National Basketball Association
Michigan St 62, Maryland 58
When: 3:30 PM ET, Saturday, March 14, 2015
Where: United Center, Chicago, Illinois
Officials:
# D.J. Carstensen, # Paul Szelc, # Terry Wymer
Attendance:
18088
By SportsDirect Inc.
Michigan State 62, No. 8 Maryland 58: Travis Trice scored 20 points as the Spartans overcame a slow start and a huge first-half deficit to down the Terrapins at the Big Ten tournament semifinals in Chicago.
Branden Dawson added 17 points and eight rebounds as defending tournament champion and No.3 seed Michigan State (23-10) avenged a pair of regular-season losses to Maryland to advance to the Big Ten title game for the third time in four years. Matt Costello chipped in all 10 of his points in the second half and Denzel Valentine handed out seven assists for the Spartans, who face top-seeded Wisconsin in Sunday’s finals.
Freshman Melo Trimble led all scorers with 22 points for the second-seeded Terrapins (27-6), who saw their eight-game winning streak snapped and lost for the first time in 12 games decided by six points or fewer. Dez Wells contributed 10 points and seven boards while Evan Smotrycz had nine points on three 3-pointers.
Trimble hit three 3-pointers in the opening 5:45 while Michigan State misfired on its first nine shots, and Smotrycz converted back-to-back triples as Maryland raced out to a 23-7 lead 8½ minutes into the contest. Trice scored 10 of his team’s final 16 points over the last 8:45 to cut the deficit in half by the intermission and Valentine contributed his only bucket – a go-ahead triple – from the baseline during a 13-0 run early in the second half that gave the Spartans their first lead at 38-36 with 12½ minutes to go.
Consecutive layups from Wells capped a run of seven consecutive points and the Terrapins remained in front until Dawson hit a jumper with 5:44 left. Wells ended a four-minute field-goal drought on a jumper with 3:25 remaining to draw Maryland within one, but a dunk and two free throws from Dawson fueled a 6-0 spurt and the Spartans – ranked last in the conference in foul shooting – hit three of their final four free throws to preserve the victory.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Michigan State meets Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game for the first time in the 18-year history of the event. … The Spartans staged their largest comeback win since overcoming a 23-point deficit in a 2004 game against Minnesota. … Trimble, who tallied 13 points in the opening seven minutes, did not score again until accounting for the Terrapins’ final nine points over the last 5:17.
Top Game Performances
| Michigan St |
|
Maryland |
|
Travis Trice 20 |
Scoring |
Melo Trimble 22 |
|
Denzel Valentine 7 |
Assists |
Jake Layman 5 |
|
Branden Dawson 8 |
Rebounds |
Dezmine Wells 7 |
|
Branden Dawson 5 |
Free Throws Made |
Jake Layman 4 |
|
Denzel Valentine 2 |
Steals |
Jake Layman 2 |
|
Matt Costello 1 |
Blocks |
Jake Layman 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Michigan St
|
62 |
44.0 |
5-18 |
13-20 |
15 |
28 |
4 |
5 |
11 |
| Maryland
|
58 |
40.0 |
8-20 |
10-13 |
12 |
24 |
3 |
4 |
13 |
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