Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Michigan State
Wildcats Fall To Michigan State 73-61
1/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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EVANSTON, Ill. - Maurice Ager made all six of his 3-pointers and had a career-high 24 points for Michigan State in a 73-61 win over Northwestern on Wednesday night.
Ager scored 22 of his game-high 24 points in the first half, and Chris Hill added 17 points for Michigan State (8-7, 3-1 Big Ten). The Spartans have won three straight for the first time all season and hold a share of the conference lead.
Michigan State led the entire way, but Northwestern (7-9, 2-3) made a late charge with a 15-3 run to cut the deficit to seven. Jitim Young and Vedran Vukusic -- who ended up playing 38 minutes after missing Saturday's game at Indiana with a knee injury -- each hit treys during the spurt, and Young's reverse layup made it 66-59 with 1:43 to go.
However, Michigan State hit 6-of-7 free throws down the stretch to put the game out of reach. Overall, the Spartans shot 61 percent from the field.
Michigan State led 42-25 at halftime, and Ager and Hill combined to score 35 of those points as they were 9-of-10 from beyond the arc.
Hill opened the game with three treys as Michigan State scored the first 11 points of the contest. The Spartans held Northwestern scoreless until 4:10 into the game, but the Wildcats pulled to within 13-11 on consecutive steals and layups from Mohamed Hachad and Young.
Ager quickly hit back-to-back 3s from the left corner to give the Spartans an eight-point cushion. He later scored 11 straight points, hitting three treys and putting back a miss by Alan Anderson to extend MSU's lead to 34-22.
Young led Northwestern with 16 points, while Vukusic filled the box score in 38 minutes of play with 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and four steals. Overall, the Wildcats put five different players in double figures in the scoring column, just the second time that has happened in the Bill Carmody era. The other time came in last year's win at home against Purdue. Hachad had 10 points and tied a career high with five assists; T.J. Parker had 12 points and Davor Duvancic had 10.
NU is off this weekend, getting the first of its two byes during Big Ten play. The 'Cats are next in action a week from today, travelling to Penn State to take on the Nittany Lions. That game is slated for 7 p.m. EST and will not be televised.
