Tre Holloman scored 17 points to lead No. 12 Michigan State to an 80-78 win over No. 19 Illinois on Sunday in East Lansing, Mich.
Frankie Fidler and Coen Carr each added 11 points for the Spartans (16-2, 7-0 Big Ten), who have won 11 straight games.
Will Riley scored 19 points off the bench for Illinois (13-5, 5-3), which spent most of the game without leading scorer Kasparas Jakucionis, who played only nine minutes due to foul trouble.
After trailing 76-70 with 3:18 remaining, Illinois cut the Michigan State lead to 76-75 with 1:29 left following back-to-back baskets by Kylan Boswell and Morez Johnson Jr. and one free throw by Johnson.
Michigan State’s Jaden Akins and Boswell traded baskets to make it 78-77 Spartans, but Illinois got a stop with under 30 seconds left and had a chance to take the lead. However, a turnover by the Fighting Illini gave the ball back to Michigan State with 5.9 seconds remaining.
Holloman was fouled on the ensuing inbounds pass and gave Michigan State an 80-77 lead via two free throws with 5.4 seconds left.
Michigan State then decided to foul Boswell intentionally with 3.9 seconds left, and he made the first free throw he took to make it 80-78 Spartans.
Boswell intentionally missed the second free throw and got his own rebound near the baseline to the left of the basket, but officials ruled that his potential game-tying shot attempt while falling out of bounds went over the back of the basket. Michigan State then inbounded the ball to kill the remaining 0.9 seconds on the clock.
Boswell finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and four assists for Illinois. Tomislav Ivisic had 13 points, four boards and five assists, and Johnson had 11 points and six boards.
Down by one with 10:52 remaining in the game, Michigan State went on a 9-1 run to take a 66-59 lead following a three-point play by Jeremy Fears Jr.
Illinois jumped out to a 25-16 lead in the first half thanks to a scoring binge from Riley, who scored 16 of his team’s first 25 points in the first 9:52 of the game. His production was needed because Jakucionis went to the bench with 17:06 left in the first half after getting his second foul.
Jakucionis fouled out of the game with 6:39 left in the second half.
–Field Level Media
