NCAA tournament: No. 5-seeded Michigan State turns back No. 9 Northern Iowa, 59-52
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No big shots from Ali Farokhmanesh. No mid-major magic.
Just another trip to the regional finals for Michigan State.
Durrell Summers scored 19 points and Korie Lucious hit a whirling turnaround jumper with about 90 seconds left, helping the fifth-seeded Spartans survive a scare with a 59-52 win over pesky Northern Iowa in the Midwest Regional semifinals tonight in St. Louis.
Playing without injured star Kalin Lucas, Michigan State (27-8) needed a half to get used to Northern Iowa’s grinding style and held the Panthers to 10 free throws and no field goals over the final 10:22 to send the heroes of the Heartland home empty-handed.
Always at their best in the NCAA tournament, the Spartans are one win from their sixth trip to the Final Four in 12 years. They’ll play Sunday against sixth-seeded Tennessee, which beat No. 2 Ohio State, 76-73, earlier Friday night.
‘I love March,’ Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo said with a smile.
Northern Iowa (30-5) knocked off one college basketball monster but couldn’t make it two in a row, unable to contain the athletic Spartans for an entire game after stunning top-seeded Kansas in the second round.
Adam Koch had 13 points and Kwadzo Ahelegbe added 12 for the Panthers, but Farokhmanesh, the early-round hero, was just one for 6 from three-point range.
Michigan State, last year’s national runner-up, turned the game on defense in the second half, escaping with a difficult win as Lucas watched from the bench in a walking boot.
Lucious, the second-round hero, hit his acrobatic shot, then the Spartans held. Chris Allen followed with a putback with 31 seconds left, putting the Spartans up 57-51 and on their way to Sunday’s regional final.
‘The second half, we went inside more and it created a lot more opportunities for us,’ Izzo said. ‘Let me tell you something — that’s a good team.’
A few years back, maybe this was a mismatch: the powerhouse from the Big Ten against the scrappy mid-major.
Not this year.
Northern Iowa has done its best to shake the underdog tag, reaching the NCAA tournament five of the last seven years, moving into the round of 16 this year for the first time with wins over UNLV and Kansas, which was seeded No. 1 overall.
Farokhmanesh ran off the Runnin’ Rebels with a three-pointer with 4.9 seconds left in the opening round, then topped it with a no-no-no-great-shot! three-pointer to take out the Jayhawks. The son of an Iranian Olympic volleyball player, Farokhmanesh has become a folk hero back in Cedar Falls, a Stephen Curry-like sensation to the rest of the country.
Of course, all the Panthers have moved into a new level of fame, appearing on magazine covers, fans from all over jumping aboard the purple-powered bandwagon.
Michigan State has been the monument of the bracket under Izzo: 13 straight NCAA tournaments, seven trips to the round of 16, five Final Fours, a national title in 2000.
This has been a little tougher trip.
The resilient Spartans survived a whack-a-mole-like season filled with winning streaks, injuries, suspensions and benchings.
The latest downturn came in the second round, when Lucas ruptured his Achilles’ tendon against Maryland, leaving the Spartans without their scoring, assists and all-around leader.
-- Associated Press
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