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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Morris Peterson wouldn't take the
shot in a two-point loss at Kentucky and Mateen Cleaves called him
a wimp.
Cleaves fed Peterson the ball again Tuesday night, and this time he buried it for Michigan State.
Peterson's 3-pointer forced overtime and he scored four more
points in the extra session as the 11th-ranked Spartans defeated
Indiana (No. 10 ESPN/USA Today, No. 9 AP) 77-71 to take over first place in the Big Ten.
|  | | Indiana's Michael Lewis drives against Spartan Mateen Cleaves. |
"That's big time," Cleaves said. "He didn't take that shot at
Kentucky. I told him he's our man. He's got to take that shot. He's
the guy we ride with. He came up big time tonight."
The win was the 100th for coach Tom Izzo and left the Spartans (12-4, 3-0 Big Ten) the lone unbeaten team in conference play.
"If there ever was a storybook ending to your 100th win, this
was it," said Izzo, who guided the Spartans to a Final Four
appearance last season. "Beating a program that you respect so
much is something."
Indiana (12-2, 2-1), which never led in the five-minute
overtime, was held to just one basket in the extra period, a
3-pointer by Michael Lewis with 4.0 remaining.
"This was a tough loss," Indiana coach Bob Knight said.
"Peterson made a big play out there."
Charlie Bell led the Spartans with 22 points and Peterson
finished with 17.
A.J. Guyton scored 28 points for the Hoosiers, who were
outrebounded 46-37.
Peterson's 3-pointer with 11.3 seconds left in regulation, on a
pass from Cleaves, was only the Spartans' fifth basket over the
final 10:44 and tied it at 62. Cleaves heaved up a long shot from
just inside midcourt at the buzzer for Michigan State, but the ball
spun out of the rim.
"I thought it was down," Cleaves said. "Especially when it
rimmed in. But, we just had to suck it up and come back."
A.J. Granger's layup 47 seconds into the overtime gave the
Spartans a lead they never lost. Two free throws by David Thomas
gave Michigan State a 75-68 lead with 8.9 seconds remaining.
Lewis' 3-pointer cut it to four points, then Granger sealed it
with two free throws with 2.8 seconds left.
"We got one tonight," Peterson said. "But that's a great
team. We've got to be ready when we play them again (Feb. 26)."
With so much on the line, both teams looked a little nervous at
the start. In the first eight minutes, Indiana -- leading 11-9 -- had
hit just 4 of 13 shots while the Spartans were shooting 3 of 14,
and each team had turned the ball over four times.
And the ball handling never got much better. Each team finished with 17 turnovers in the typically bump and bang Big Ten contest.
The rest of the first half settled into a game of runs. Guyton
scored nine points in a 9-0 burst that put Indiana ahead 25-20. But
Bell scored six as the Spartans answered with an 8-0 run for a
28-25 lead.
A three-point play by Guyton tied it at 28, but Bell's 3-pointer
from the right corner just before the buzzer send Michigan State
off with a 31-28 halftime lead.
Each team led once by seven points in the second half, the last time with 2:45 remaining after two free throws by Kirk Haston gave
Indiana a 58-51 edge.
Cleaves, making his first start since returning last week from a foot injury that kept him sidelined for 10 weeks, had eight assists
to claim the Michigan State record with 653, eclipsing the old mark
of 645 by Scott Skiles.
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ALSO SEE
Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
Indiana Clubhouse
Michigan State Clubhouse
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Jason Richardson slams home Morris Peterson's missed free throw.
avi: 955 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Jarrod Odle finds Kirk Haston alone under the basket.
avi: 618 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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