Dec. 3, 1996

MSU Comes Back to Beat Cleveland State

After trailing by 11 points at one time in the second half, MSU utilized excellent free throw shooting (26 of 27 in the 2nd half) and its full-court press to overcome Cleveland State 83-78. Senior Jon Garavaglia had a career night and led MSU with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Antonio Smith also had a career record by scoring 16 and getting 10 rebounds. Guards Ray Weathers and Mateen Cleaves had 15 and 10 points respectively.

"I take my hat off to (our) guys," said MSU head coach Tom Izzo. "I think last year this was a game we would've lost.

"That was a hard team to defend, but I think they got a little tired at the end, and their shots fell a hair short."

Next up for the team is Illinois-Chicago on Thursday, December 5th. That game is at the Bres and starts at 7:30 p.m.

                                                  
                     1ST 2ND     TOTAL
                     --- ---     -----
CLEVELAND ST         42  36       78
MICHIGAN ST          35  48       83    FINAL
HIGH SCORERS
CLEVELAND ST - ERIC NICHELSON 18, LEONIDAS SKOUTARIS 16, MICHAEL BOWENS 14 
MICHIGAN ST - JON GARAVAGLIA 20, ANTONIO SMITH 16, RAY WEATHERS 15 
HIGH REBOUNDERS
CLEVELAND ST - ERIC NICHELSON 8, TWO PLAYERS WITH 7 
MICHIGAN ST - JON GARAVAGLIA 10, ANTONIO SMITH 10 
HIGH ASSISTS
CLEVELAND ST - MALCOLM SIMS 7, ANTHONY LAMBERT 4 
MICHIGAN ST - JASON KLEIN 3, MATEEN CLEAVES 3 
ATTENDANCE : 11,931 
CLEVELAND ST (78)
                     fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Sims            36  3-11   3-5   3-7  7  3   10
Bowens          29  6-10   1-3   4-7  0  5   14
Nichelson       39  6-12   6-8   2-8  1  5   18
Lambert         21   2-3   0-2   0-0  4  2    5
Madison         22   2-7   1-2   1-2  1  3    5
Dames           24   4-7   0-0   3-3  2  4    8
Rahas            1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Skoutaris       21   4-5   7-7   0-0  1  2   16
Brewster         3   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Mcroy            4   0-0   2-2   0-0  0  0    2
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 27-56 20-29 13-27 16 24   78
Percentages: FG-.482, FT-.690. 3-Point Goals:
4-13, .308 (Sims 1-3, Bowens 1-2, Nichelson 0-1,
Lambert 1-2, Madison 0-3, Skoutaris 1-1, Brewster
0-1). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: None.
Turnovers: 17 (Bowens 5, Sims 4, Skoutaris 3,
Lambert 2, Dames, Madison, Mcroy). Steals: 12
(Sims 7, Dames 2, Nichelson 2, Mcroy).
MICHIGAN ST (83)
                     fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Polonowski      11   2-5   2-2   2-2  0  0    6
Klein           13   0-4   0-1   1-2  3  1    0
Garavaglia      27  6-10   7-8  2-10  2  3   20
Weathers        33   4-8   4-5   0-0  2  3   15
Thomas          12   0-0   0-0   0-2  0  3    0
Kelley          15   1-6   0-0   0-0  1  5    2
Cleaves         19   2-7   6-6   1-1  3  2   10
Smith           31   5-6   6-6  5-10  2  2   16
Webber           3   0-0   0-0   0-1  0  0    0
Peterson        24   2-3   6-6   1-6  1  4   10
Granger          8   2-2   0-1   1-1  0  1    4
Wiley            4   0-2   0-0   2-2  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 24-53 31-35 15-37 14 24   83
Percentages: FG-.453, FT-.886. 3-Point Goals:
4-10, .400 (Klein 0-1, Garavaglia 1-1, Weathers
3-4, Cleaves 0-3, Peterson 0-1). Team rebounds:
None. Blocked shots: 1 (Klein). Turnovers: 20
(Smith 6, Cleaves 3, Garavaglia 3, Kelley 2,
Thomas 2, Granger, Peterson, Polonowski,
Weathers). Steals: 8 (Kelly 2, Peterson 2,
Garavaglia, Granger, Thomas, Weathers).