Dec. 16, 2005

Final Stats

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Shannon Brown scored a career-high 27 points and No. 12 Michigan State rallied to beat Cleveland State 83-75 on Friday night.

Paul Davis added 24 points, while Maurice Ager had 22 for the Spartans (8-2), who trailed 46-35 late in the first half and got just 10 points from their other seven players.

The balanced Vikings (2-5) hit a school-record 14 3-pointers, including 10 in the first half, and looked nothing like the team that lost by 57 points at North Carolina in November.

Raheem Moss and Patrick Tatham each had 12 points to lead Cleveland State. Victor Morris added 11 points and Carlos English 10 in a near-triumphant return for Vikings coach Mike Garland, a Michigan State assistant from 1996-2003.

The Spartans were a different team in the last minute of the first half and the first eight minutes after the break, outscoring Cleveland State 28-4 to take a 63-50 lead.

With much tighter defense, Michigan State's biggest lead was 15 points with 5:39 left. But the Vikings never quit firing from outside and hit 45.2 percent of their 3-point tries.

The Spartans outscored Cleveland State inside 40-16 and had a 42-29 rebounding edge. Davis led all players with 11 rebounds in his sixth double-double of the season, while Ager added nine rebounds.

But Michigan State committed 19 turnovers and was lethargic throughout the first 20 minutes.

After the Spartans built a 23-14 lead, Cleveland State took control with aggressive man-to-man defense and began a barrage of 3-pointers.

An 18-5 run gave the Vikings a 32-28 edge. When Cleveland State finished a 29-10 surge, its surprising lead grew to 11.

Michigan State scored the last five points of the half but needed 12 from Brown and 10 each from Ager and Davis just to stay within six in front of honored alumni Magic Johnson and Gregory Kelser.

The Vikings produced 13 assists in the first 20 minutes and nearly delivered a major upset for a team with eight players from Michigan.