No. 3 Michigan State Ends Globetrotter Streak at 1,270

Charlie Bell scored 21 points as defending national champion Michigan State held off a late rally for a 72-68 exhibition victory over the Harlem Globetrotters at East Lansing, Mich., on Monday night, ending their 1,270-game winning streak.

The defeat was the first for the famed traveling team since it lost to the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar All-Stars in Vienna, Austria, on Sept. 12, 1995.

The Globetrotters, who led, 35-29, at halftime, scored the first basket of the second half to take their biggest lead of the game.

Jason Richardson sparked an 8-0 run by No. 3 Michigan State, including a spectacular dunk off a missed shot with 13:10 remaining that gave the Spartans a 43-39 lead.

Michigan State was leading, 51-49, when another dunk off a rebound by Richardson triggered a 13-2 run that gave them a 64-51 lead with 3:55 left.

Alex Sanders’ four-point play with 47 seconds left brought the Globetrotters within four points. Donnie Boyce stole the ball and fed Wayne Turner for a layup with 39 seconds left to cut the lead to 68-66.

Bell then scored on a layup with 10.8 seconds remaining. After a basket by Tyson Wheeler, Bell secured Michigan State’s victory with two free throws with 3.7 seconds left.

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Ryan Forehan-Kelly and Joe Shipp hit three-pointers late in overtime as California beat Mississippi State, 83-76, in the first round of the Preseason NIT at Berkeley.

California advanced to play Texas on Wednesday night.

In winning its season opener for the 11th time in 12 years, Cal overcame 26 points and eight three-pointers by Mississippi State’s Antonio Jackson.

In other Preseason NIT games, Tim Lightfoot scored a career-high 22 points to lead New Mexico past George Mason, 79-68, at Albuquerque, N.M., Chris Owens had 28 points and eight rebounds to lead Texas to a 79-65 victory over Navy at Austin, Texas, and Kevin Lyde scored 21 points and sparked a second-half rally as Temple overcame some poor shooting and beat Delaware, 56-49, in Philadelphia.

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Katie Douglas scored 22 points and Kelly Komara had 21 on near-perfect shooting as No. 4 Purdue defeated Georgetown, 81-67, in the second round of the women’s preseason NIT at West Lafayette, Ind.

Komara was perfect on her field-goal attempts and free throws before missing a three-point shot with 8:50 left.

She finished five for six on field goals--all three-pointers--and six for six on free throws.

Purdue (2-0) plays Texas on Sunday in a semifinal. The tournament final is Monday.

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Twin prep senior guards Errick and Derrick Craven, and prep senior center Rory O’Neil have signed letters of intent to attend USC next fall, school officials said.

The 6-foot-2 Craven brothers from Carson, who had committed to USC months ago, helped Torrance Bishop Montgomery High win the Division III state title last season.

O’Neil, 6-11, attends Ridgecrest Burroughs High. Last season O’Neil was a Southern Section Division II-A first-team selection.

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Duluth East’s (Minn.) Rick Rickert is staying close to home, choosing Minnesota despite his previous verbal commitment to Arizona.

“He said he was torn between the two,” his mother, Susan Rickert, said while faxing her son’s letter of intent to Minnesota Coach Dan Monson.

“There was good things about both of them, but it came down to a lot with who he wanted to go to school with, and he wanted to stay closer to home.”

Rickert, 6-10, is considered one of the top high school seniors in the nation, and his signing should help Monson rebuild the program.