| Detroit Free Press
EAST LANSING – It was another dynamic defensive performance like Michigan State Basketball built a great advantage in Purdue.
Then the Spartans’ shots stopped falling. The 17-point lead at the start of the second half disappeared.
And victory too.
The MSU defense collapsed in the final stretch, especially against Trevion Williams. The Boilermakers big man scored eight of his 10 final points in the 3:19 finals, hitting a hook 4.5 seconds from the end that gave Purdue an impressive 55-54 turnaround on Friday night at the Breslin Center.
Aaron Henry, whose three points in the final minute gave MSU a four point lead, missed an attempt at direction when time was up. The Boilermakers (8-5, 3-3 Big Ten) celebrated in the middle of the court in the Spartans (8-4, 2-4) marched back to their locker room, confused.
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Williams, a 1.80 m junior who played for the Detroit Henry Ford Academy, scored a game with 26 points out of 9 out of 14 shots, hitting eight out of 12 on the line and picking up nine rebounds. He was the only Purdue player to score double digits, as the Boilermakers surpassed 3 out of 24 3-point shots and 33.9% in total for the game.
Henry scored 13 points, hitting three of his eight shots with seven rebounds. The Spartans pitched 22.2% after building a 31 to 16 lead at halftime, and turned the ball over 10 times in the second half. Joshua Langford added 10 points in the 4 out of 11 shot.
MSU is off until it travels to Iowa No. 7 on Thursday (9 pm, FS1).
The Spartans’ defense shone again to open the game, holding the Boilermakers with 16 points and 26.1% of pitches in the construction of a 15-point interval cushion. MSU held Purdue without a 3-point basket in 12 attempts in the first half.
The Boilermakers entered making 37.9% behind the arc. In the first four games of the Spartans’ Big Ten, opponents made 39.3% in the 3-point range against their defense before holding Rutgers in 3 out of 12 in the bottom and 30.5% overall in Tuesday’s 68 victory -45.
The Spartans had an overall performance with eight of the 12 players who scored. MSU hit 52.2% of his shots at halftime, then opened the second with a Langford jumper to stretch an 11-0 run in both halves.
Purdue responded with seven consecutive cards, including the first of 3 points from Aaron Wheeler’s game. But the Spartans increased to 12 in a Julius Marble dunk after a recovery pass from Henry.
This basket was significant, as it would be the last MSU made in the field at 12:01. During that time, the Boilermakers ran a 19-12 run – all of the Spartans’ points came on the free-throw line in a final physical period.
After Purdue tied for 43 on Brandon Newman’s tray with 6:20 left, a free throw and a 3-point basket from Joey Hauser with 3:42 put MSU ahead by five.
The Boilermakers recovered the game from one point in a pair of Williams free throws with 1:21 left.
Henry responded by entering the track and hitting his jumper, before getting a steal and drawing a free kick with 19.1 seconds left, making it 1 of 2 to give MSU a 54-50 lead.
But Watts knocked Hunter down with 11.9 seconds left, so he was thrown on the floor for an 11.6 turnover to play on the next entry pass near Purdue’s basket.
MSU missed Williams, who made one of his two free throws, 9.8 seconds from the end. But a loose ball tie between Hauser and Hunter left the ball with the Boilermakers, due to the possession arrow. Matt Painter asked for a timeout with 6.4 seconds left and the entrance pass went to Williams for the winner of the post on Hauser.
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more about the Spartans of the state of Michigan and subscribe to our Spartan newsletter.