Jaden Akins scored 14 points, including six free throws in the final 34 seconds, and Jase Richardson added 13 points as No. 16 Michigan State earned its ninth straight win with a 78-68 Big Ten victory over Northwestern on Sunday at Evanston, Ill.
Jeremy Fears Jr. contributed 12 points and eight assists for the Spartans (14-2, 5-0), who seized a 47-28 halftime lead and went on to remain one of two Big Ten teams undefeated in league play.
Nick Martinelli paced the Wildcats (10-6, 1-4) with 27 points and Jalen Leach added 17. Brooks Barnhizer, Northwestern’s No. 2 scorer at 19.3 points per game, missed his first seven shots, did not score until the second half and finished with four points on 2-of-13 shooting.
Northwestern scored on six of its first seven possessions – including lefty leaners by Martinelli on the Wildcats’ first three trips downcourt – while breaking out to a 13-8 lead.
But the Spartans’ man-to-man defense stiffened as Northwestern went scoreless for 5:48. Michigan State’s 14-0 run – triggered by Richardson’s acrobatic drive for a 3-point play and capped by Frankie Fidler’s pullup jumper as the shot clock expired – opened a 28-16 lead with 8:13 remaining in the first half.
Martinelli slowed the tide briefly with a three-point play, but Fidler and Coen Carr threw down dunks to expand the Spartans’ lead to 36-19 and force Northwestern coach Chris Collins to use his second timeout during the Spartans’ 22-3 run.
The Spartans carried a 47-28 lead into halftime on the strength of 62.1-percent shooting. The Wildcats made seven of their first 11 shots, but only three of their final 21 over the last 13 minutes.
Northwestern slowly pulled closer in the second half. When Martinelli sank two free throws with 46.9 seconds left, he shaved the deficit to 71-62 and got the Wildcats within single digits for the first time since the 7:25 mark of the first half. Akins answered by hitting all six of his free-throw attempts.
–Field Level Media
