PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley's senior backcourt duo of Daniel Ruffin (Peoria, Ill./Central H.S.) and Jeremy Crouch (Pekin, Ill./Pekin H.S.) combined for 30 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and five steals, but Michigan State's frontcourt dominated the glass, keying the #9/10 Spartans to a 66-61 come-from-behind victory in front of a Bradley record crowd 11,597 Tuesday night at Carver Arena.
Michigan State (7-1) snapped Bradley's 29-game non-conference home winning streak, which was the sixth-longest in the country and dated back to a 74-71 loss to Chris Kaman's Central Michigan squad Dec. 18, 2002 in Jim Les' first season as Bradley's head coach.
Ruffin scored a game-high 17 pointss and shared game-high honors with five assists, while Crouch chipped in with 13 points, five rebounds and a game-high four steals for the Braves (6-3). Raymar Morgan made 9-of-11 free throw attempts and led four Michigan State players in double-figures with 15 points. Drew Neitzel and Kalin Lucas both scored 13 points and Marquise Gray chipped in with 10. Goran Suton pulled down 11 rebounds and Drew Naymick added 10 boards off the bench as Michigan State won the rebounding fight, 48-29.
While Bradley limited the Spartans to 40.7 percent shooting from the field, Michigan State ripped down 21 offensive rebounds and outscored the Braves, 20-9, in second chance points. In a sequence the capsulized the game, Michigan State took its first lead since midway through the first half when Naymick rebounded a Neitzel miss and powered his way back up for a dunk, giving the Spartans a 52-51 lead with 4:20 remaining.
The freshman Lucas came through with two clutch shots to give the Spartans some space, draining a baseline jumper for a 54-51 lead with 3:35 left and his first career 3-pointer for a 57-53 edge with 2:39 remaining. After Suton scored inside for 59-55 lead with 1:46 left, the Spartans made 7-of-8 free throw attempts to prevent a final Bradley rally.
After the first 10 minutes of the game featured three ties and four lead changes, Bradley used a 9-0 run to pull away from a 17-17 tie for a 26-17 lead with 4:50 left in the half. Sophomore guard Andrew Warren's steal and acrobatic transition layup, followed by a free throw to complete a 3-point play, was sandwiched by a pair of David Collins two-handed slams to start the run.
Michigan State outscored Bradley 10-2 to close the half, however, as the Braves settled for a 28-27 halftime lead.
After the Spartans pulled into a 31-31 tie to start the second half, Bradley nearly broke the game open by going on an 11-2 spurt to take a 42-33 lead with 13:55 remaining. The Braves used 3-pointers from Ruffin, Theron Wilson and Crouch to start the run and junior center Sam Singh capped the outburst with a pair of free throws. The Spartans again rallied with an 8-0 run before Bradley freshman Sam Maniscalco buried a trey ith 10:41 left for a 45-41 Bradley lead. That was Bradley's final 3-pointer, however. While Michigan State missed seven 3-point attempts in a row after Neitzel opened the game with a triple, his bomb with 4:56 left pulled the Spartans to within 51-50, setting the stage for the finishing kick.
After hosting a top-10 ranked team for the first time since Feb. 27, 1982 (#8 Tulsa), Bradley's schedule does not get much easier. Following a week off, Bradley's next three games will be at defending Horizon League champion Wright State Dec. 11, at #13 Butler Dec. 19 and home against defending Colonial Athletic Conference champion VCU Dec. 22.
