Spartans' title hopes vanishing

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Big Ten race is officially out of Michigan State's hands. Purdue ripped it away.

The young Boilermakers, arriving at least a year earlier than anyone could have predicted, kept themselves atop the standings at 11-1 with a 60-54 win over the Spartans here Tuesday. And they did it because they were the tougher team in the tightest moments.

A night of wild mood swings for the No. 10 Spartans transformed from humiliating to inspiring - with an excruciating finish. MSU trailed by 18 points in the first half, then stormed back in the second behind freshman Kalin Lucas to get within a point on four separate occasions.

Each time, Purdue responded with a clutch basket.

"You've just got to go through a million emotions in a game like that," MSU coach Tom Izzo said. "I've got to give my team some credit, because we could have died. We fought and came back."

But not all the way, so the Spartans fall to 20-4 overall, 8-3 in the Big Ten. MSU likely has to win its final seven conference games, starting Saturday at Indiana, to have a chance at its first league title since 2001.

Even if MSU does that, it'll need Purdue to stumble a couple times. And right now, coach Matt Painter's No. 19 Boilermakers are looking like a team of quicker-than-expected destiny.

"You never know when your opportunity's gonna come," Painter said. "Why can't it be now?"

Purdue freshman forward Robbie Hummel - who missed MSU's 78-75 home win over Purdue on Jan. 18 with the flu - was the star of the night with 24 points, prompting Izzo to compare his intangible qualities to those of former MSU star Mateen Cleaves.

Hummel was all over the place and sealed the game with 1:36 left, hitting an open 3-pointer after MSU's Goran Suton got mixed up on a switch and left Hummel alone. That was one of several plays the Spartans wished they could have back.

"We had it, we just didn't make some plays we should have down the stretch," said MSU senior guard Drew Neitzel, who had just six points on 1-of-7 shooting. "We could have won that game."

Suton and Raymar Morgan missed point-blank shots. Morgan was called for traveling with MSU down a point. Defensive lapses struck at the worst possible moments.

MSU, which trailed 34-18 at the half, outscored Purdue 21-6 to start the second and to cut it to 40-39.

But then Purdue sophomore Keaton Grant drove with no resistance for a layup.

It was 47-46 when Hummel beat Suton for a layup on a backdoor play.

It was 49-48 when Purdue freshman E'Twaun Moore hit a tough jumper over Travis Walton.

And it was 51-50, after the Morgan travel, when sophomore Chris Kramer drove for two of his four points on Walton.

"It's really frustrating, but that goes with the game," said Morgan, who scored 12 points. "We should have come out and played a better first half."

Morgan and Neitzel, MSU's top two scorers, both went scoreless in the first. And Walton struggled to take care of the ball.

MSU had 14 turnovers in the first half and was on its way to an ugly blowout loss in front of 14,123 roaring fans at Mackey Arena.

"The first half was terrible, they brought it to us," Walton said.

"Boy, they just steamrolled us for a few minutes," Izzo said. "I have no understanding of what happened to us in that 10-minute stretch."

For one thing, Kramer was bullying Neitzel, forcing him into turnovers and giving him no breathing room. Neitzel, Morgan and Walton "were just not there," Izzo said.

Lucas nearly saved the day, scoring a career-high 20 points. He drove at will despite a bruised right knee and completed several acrobatic plays.

"Kalin Lucas, to me, was unbelievable because it was like he was playing by himself for a while," Izzo said. "Then everybody else started to join him in the second half."

But not quite enough to avoid a crushing setback for one title chase and a huge boost for another.

Contact Joe Rexrode at jrexrode@lsj.com.

Purdue 60, MSU 54

MSU (54)

Player M FG FT R A F Pt

Morgan 31 5-9 2-4 7 1 3 12

Suton 31 4-7 0-0 7 1 2 8

Naymick 28 2-4 0-0 3 1 2 4

Walton 30 1-4 0-2 4 2 3 2

Neitzel 35 1-7 4-4 5 4 0 6

Lucas 30 7-10 6-8 1 0 3 20

Allen 5 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0

Summers 4 0-1 0-0 1 0 0 0

Gray 6 1-3 0-0 0 0 1 2

TEAM 3

Totals 200 21-45 12-18 32 9 15 54

Purdue (60)

Player M FG FT R A F Pt

Calasan 18 1-7 2-2 6 2 2 4

Kramer 34 2-4 0-1 3 5 2 4

Hummel 37 9-15 2-2 11 3 3 24

Grant 31 3-8 4-4 1 2 2 11

Moore 32 5-14 0-1 0 2 1 12

Crump 11 0-2 0-0 0 0 2 0

Green 16 1-4 9-0 0 0 3 2

Johnson 21 10-2 3-4 0 0 2 3

TEAM 4

Totals 200 21-56 11-14 31 14 17 60

3-points goals-MSU 0-5 (Neitzel 0-4, Suton 0-1). Purdue 7-24 (Crump 0-1, Calasan 0-3, Grant 1-4, Hummel 4-7, Green 0-2, Moore 2-7). Turnovers-MSU 19, Purdue 11. Fouled out-none. Halftime score-Purdue 34, MSU 18. A-14,123.