BIG TEN ROUNDUP \ Wednesday's other games

Minnesota 73, Penn State 69
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Vincent Grier scored 27 points and Brent Lawson added 14 to lead Minnesota over Penn State. The win was the fourth straight for the Golden Gophers (20-9, 10-6) and helped solidify their hopes for an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament. Minnesota also clinched a first-round bye in next week's Big Ten tournament. The Nittany Lions (7-21, 1-14) lost their 10th straight and 15th out of their last 16. Danny Morrissey led the way with a career-high 22 points for Penn State, which also got 12 points from Geary Claxton and 11 each from Aaron Johnson and Travis Parker. Led by Grier's 12 first-half points, the Gophers looked poised to run away with the game halfway through. But after falling behind by 15 early in the second half, Penn State outscored the Gophers 23-11 in the next 10 minutes to pull within 61-58. The run was fueled by the 3-point shooting of Morrissey, who scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half on the strength of five 3-pointers.
Michigan St. 69, Northwestern 58
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Maurice Ager scored 20 points, including a clutch 3-pointer that curtailed a Northwestern comeback. Ager's 3-pointer with 3:33 left took the claw out of a Northwestern rally that saw it cut an 18-point deficit to five. Alan Anderson led Michigan State (21-5, 12-3 Big Ten) with 22 points, hitting six straight free throws over the final 1:24 to seal the win. Vedran Vukusic led Northwestern with 17 points and went over 1,000 for his career. Rebounding from an overtime loss at Indiana, Michigan State won for the seventh time in eight games and beat Northwestern for the 33rd time in the last 35 meetings. Northwestern coach Bill Carmody got his second technical foul with 35 seconds left in the opening half and was ejected, missing his team's rally that fell short. Northwestern (14-14, 6-9) must win its finale at Indiana on Saturday to secure a winning season and keep hopes for an NIT bid alive.
Associated Press
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.