Michigan State downs Purdue at Mackey Arena for first time since 2014

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A dozen years. Seven games. Four thousand, three hundred and eighty-nine days since Michigan State walked out of Mackey Arena with a win.

All over.

For the first time since 2014, Michigan State downed Purdue on the road Thursday at Mackey Arena, 76-74, in a game decided on the final shot. Big contributions from the frontcourt helped the Spartans erase a halftime deficit for their first ranked road win of the season in a venue that has been its house of horrors for years.

Carson Cooper led Michigan State (23-5, 13-4 Big Ten) with 15 points while he hauled in six rebounds. Forwards Cam Ward (eight points) and Coen Carr (11) added a combined 19, mostly in the first half, while guards Kur Teng (13) and Jeremy Fears Jr. (12) caught fire in the second half. The Spartans shot 29 for 55 overall and 6 for 19 from 3.

For Purdue (22-6, 12-5), Braden Smith became just the fifth Division I player to reach 1,000 career assists as he dished 10 to pair with his team-leading 12 points. He led four Boilermakers in double figures, including center Oscar Cluff (10), forward Trey Kaufmann-Renn (10) and guard Jack Benter (11). Purdue shot 28 for 57 and 12 for 25 from 3, including a miss by Smith in the final seconds that ended the game.

Against the other four teams in the top five of the Big Ten rankings, Michigan State is 2-2, with an overtime win over Illinois and Thursday's win over Purdue, as well as losses to Michigan and Nebraska. The Spartans rematch the Wolverines at Crisler Center to cap the regular season March 8.

Down a shot, 39-36, at halftime, Michigan State tied the game at 42 with two buckets from Cooper and a transition mid-range from Fears, who answered for a 3 by Smith. Jordan Scott turned that into a 45-44 lead with a 3-pointer at 16:03, part of a 9-2 run. Even when Purdue found an answer through the hands of Fletcher Loyer, a one-handed dunk from Carr brought about a roar from his bench that flipped the script on a raucous crowd,

With backup point guard Denham Wojcik stealing minutes six minutes into the half, Loyer tied the game with a 3 and Daniel Jacobsen pulled Purdue ahead, 51-49. Fears checked back in by the time Teng pulled even at the foul line with 13:30 to play.

What should’ve been a settling force for Michigan State took a turn as he fouled Smith around a screen, his second of the game. But a stop on defense and a couple extra passes at the other end fed Teng for the go-ahead 3 at 12:57 as part of a personal 5-0 run.

With 12:09 to play, a tangle between Jaxon Kohler and Jacobsen brought a review as Jacobsen crashed to the hardwood. Kohler emerged with a common foul. Whoever felt miffed by that exchange felt the opposite when Jacobsen fouled Kohler on a drive at the other end. Kohler split his free throws.

Teng stayed hot for Michigan State. He bought Cooper enough time to wall up Cluff at 10:54, with Cooper sliding in to put height on the Boilermakers’ thumper. Then Teng hit a 3 at the other end, off a feed from Cooper, before swiping a steal that sent Carr the other way on a dunk. Michigan State led 62-56 after seven unanswered points, with Teng in the middle of it all.

But Purdue didn’t wilt in its own barn, drawing to within 64-61 when Wojcik subbed back into the game with 8:06 to play. The Spartans didn’t get burned, with Carr drawing a foul on the block by none other than Smith. Fears subbed back in and cashed a mid-range just outside the paint with 7:28 to play.

Down five, Purdue drew within a shot at the foul line before Ward jammed home the 68-64 dunk. And a second-effort offensive rebound by Scott got the fellow freshman to the line for two shots. When Fears jostled his way through the paint for a layup that made it 72-64 Michigan State, Purdue called timeout as MSU teammates came onto the floor pumping their fists.

Purdue came out swinging from the timeout. Benter hit a 3, then Smith. When the point guard’s layup fell at 2:16, his Boilermakers trailed just 74-72, and Michigan State had a problem on its hands.

The answer came in the paint, where Kohler spun his way for a settling layup just inside the two-minute mark. Benter matched him on a floater the other way amid a deafening roar as Kohler missed two 3-pointers, putting a one-shot game back in Purdue’s hands with a minute to play.

Out of a timeout with 46.9 seconds to go, Carr had the ball at the end of the shot clock when he tried to put in a layup through contact. The shot missed, review proved it occurred after the shot clock anyway, and Purdue had a chance to decide things with 26.1 seconds on the clock.

Smith took the inbound up the court, matched up across Fears, and dished it to Loyer, who found Kaufmann-Renn in the paint. He missed, and fouled Ward — a noted poor free-throw shooter — with the game on the line. Ward missed the first and Loyer rebounded the ball, crossing halfcourt with 3.4 seconds to go as his coach called timeout.

Purdue put the ball in the hands of Smith, who missed the shot as time expired.

Michigan State went down as much as seven points, 13-6, in the first half as Purdue’s Australian post threat Cluff bullied his way to four quick buckets. If physicality would be key to this game, then he set an immediate tone, including his dunk four minutes in that brought an already loud crowd up a notch.

Facing a crossroads, the Spartans erased that deficit and more after a media timeout, with a four-point play from Fears sparking a 10-0 run capped off with an emphatic dunk by freshman forward Ward. He and Carr provided a boost in physicality, scrapping for loose balls and getting to the rim against an imposing Purdue post defense. Ward added a running hook to go ahead 21-20 just before the midpoint of the half.

The duo of Carr and Ward combined for 13 points in the first half as Michigan State put the ball in the hands of its bigs. The Spartans’ guards shot just 3 for 10 from the floor in the first half.

Michigan State led by as much as three points, 16-13, with 12:28 to play.

A narrow lead oscillated between the teams as each opened up the game midway through the half with 3s. Rotational players Omer Mayer and Benter hit a pair off the bench for Purdue, while Teng kept Michigan State close with one of his own. Then he let up one to Boilermakers sharpshooter Loyer and Teng found his way to the bench on the next stoppage, after Carr was called for goaltending on a fast-break block attempt.

At 6:43, Smith dished an assist to fellow Purdue All-American Kaufmann-Renn for the 1,000th assist of his college career, only the fifth player to do so in Division I history.

If that block attempt would’ve cracked Carr’s highlight reel, then his next play certainly did so. With 5:33 to go and down three, Carr threw down a running dunk through Jacobsen, who then fell victim to another dunk by Cooper that led to an and-one foul. Cooper flushed the free throw to tie the game at 31 as Matt Painter subbed Jacobsen out.

Purdue pulled ahead, 39-36, at halftime with a layup by Cluff pushing his team ahead with 2:55 on the clock and a 3 from Gicarri Harris adding ballast with 57 seconds left.