March 28th, 2009 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
The Big Ten nearly lost a representative in the 2009 NCAA Tournament as the Michigan State Spartans, in their game Friday night against the Kansas Jayhawks, rallied from a 13-point deficit in the first half; the end result wound up being Michigan State knocking off Kansas 67-62 at Indianapolis.
Kansas led at halftime 36-29, but Michigan State would come roaring back; Draymond Green converted a 3-point play which cut the Jayhawks’ lead to 40-39 just three minutes into the second half. The Spartans’ Goran Suton tied the game at 42 on a 3-pointer with just over 15 minutes left in the game; Cole Aldrich scored twice during a Kansas 6-0 spurt to pull ahead 48-42, but a jumper by the Spartans’ Travis Walton gave Michigan State a 51-49 lead.
Kansas led 60-57 when Darrell Summers made one of 2 free throws, but Raymar Morgan dunked to tie the game at 60-all with 1:46 remaining; the Spartans’ Kalin Lucas converted a 3-point play to take a 63-60 lead with 48 ticks left on the game clock. The Jayhawks’ Tyshawn Taylor made a pair of free throws with 32 seconds left, then Lucas scored to make it 65-62. Sherron Collins went to the charity stripe for Kansas and missed the front end of a one-and-one and the Spartans got the ball back; Lucas hit 2 free throws to ice the game for Michigan State.
Michigan State’s high scorer was Suton with 20 points, 9 rebounds, 5 steals and a block while Lucas added 18 with 2 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 steals. Kansas was led by Collins with 20 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists but also committed 6 turnovers while Aldrich added 17 with 14 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 4 blocks. Michigan State will now take on Louisville on Sunday.
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