EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State isn’t dead yet.
A three-game skid weighing on the Spartans and a second-half lead that was once 11 points gone, Tyson Walker buried a 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds to play to lift the Spartans to a 68-65 victory over No. 4 Purdue Saturday at the Breslin Center.
It was one of Michigan State’s most spirited efforts in weeks and breathes new life into the Spartans heading into the final week of the regular season.
Walker scored only eight but had four assists and saved his biggest shot for last to give the Spartans (19-8, 10-7 Big Ten) their biggest win of the season. Gabe Brown added 13 points for Michigan State going 3 for 5 from 3-point range while Julius Marble added 12 points. A.J. Hoggard and Max Christie each scored 11 for the Spartans.
Zach Edey was nearly unstoppable for Purdue (24-5, 13-5), scoring a game-high 25, but the Boilermakers were unable to overcome 17 turnovers. Jaden Ivey added 16 points for the Boilermakers while Trevion Williams had 11.
Slow starts have plagued the Spartans in recent weeks, but that surely wasn’t the case on Saturday as Michigan State jumped out to a quick lead on a 3-pointer from Brown and a drive and layup in transition from Christie. The Boilermakers responded, though, and took an 8-7 lead before another triple from Brown sparked a surge that put the Spartans ahead, 15-11, after a 3-pointer from Walker.
Purdue answered with an 8-0 run, getting five straight points from Edey to take a 19-18 lead.
It was Michigan State’s turn to respond with a 10-2 surge that gave the Spartans a 28-21 lead with 5:24 to play in the opening half. After Purdue pulled withing 28-26, Michigan State fought back and pushed its advantage to 35-28 with 2:04 left in the half.
That’s when the Boilermakers grabbed momentum heading into halftime, getting a lob to Edey and three free throws from Eric Hunter as Michigan State missed its last two shots and the front end of a one-and-one free throw by Hoggard to hold a 35-33 lead headed to the locker room.
Michigan State started fast in the second half, as well, forcing an early Purdue timeout after two straight layups in transition from Hoggard put the Spartans up 41-35.
Purdue kept chipping away, and after a bucket from Williams, the Michigan State lead was down to 46-44.
But the Spartans took off from there, scoring the next nine points with a 3-pointer from Brown and three straight buckets from Marble to take a 55-44 lead with 10:38 left in the game.
The Boilermakers refused to go away, however, chipping away at the Michigan State lead and pulling within 59-53 on an Edey bucket in the paint with 7:22 to play. A free throw and another score from the lane by Edey made it 59-56 as Michigan State hit a cold stretch, making 1 of 7 shots with triples from both Christie and Malik Hall going halfway down before popping out.
A lob to Marcus Bingham pushed MSU’s lead to 61-56, but Purdue scored the next four to pull within one with two minutes to play. Purdue later tied it at 63 on a free throw from Ivey before Marble hit two free throws with 51.2 seconds left in the game.
Williams tied it by putting back his own miss with 31.3 seconds to play before Walker hit the winner.
