Michigan State upsets top-seeded Michigan

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS

Adreian Payne scored 18 points and Gary Harris and Branden Dawson added 15 each to lead No. 22 Michigan State to its second Big Ten tournament title in three years with a 69-55 upset of No. 8 Michigan on Sunday.

The third-seeded Spartans (26-8) are getting healthy and will have some momentum entering the NCAA tournament with four wins in five games.

“Let me tell you, we beat two great teams. Both of them are worthy of a one seed,” coach Tom Izzo told CBS, referring to the Wolverines and No. 12 Wisconsin. “I hope they don’t drop much because they are both deserving. Those guys have done it all year long.”

Top-seeded Michigan (25-8) was led by Big Ten player of the year Nik Stauskas with 17 points and Derrick Walton Jr. had 11, but the Big Ten regular season champs had their seven-game winning streak come to an end.

It was never really close.

Michigan State took control with an early 12-0 run, led 38-29 at halftime and opened the second half with an 8-0 spurt to make it 46-29.

Michigan never got closer than 10 points again.

The Spartans had lost their previous two meetings with Michigan this season but weren’t about to lose again Sunday.

For the first time all season, Michigan State started the same five players for a fifth straight game. Harris, who hurt his left shoulder early in the second half, returned later.

Harris, an Indiana native who never got to play for a state basketball title at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, took advantage of this opportunity. He scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half. Dawson, another Indiana native who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half.

Michigan State has four tournament titles since the Big Ten started the event in 1998.