State keeps rolling in Big Ten; Purdue beats Illinois

Cleaves finished with 23 points and helped the Spartans wipe out a 10-point deficit in the final seven minutes.

After Minnesota's Terrance Simmons made a tying 3-pointer with eight seconds remaining, Cleaves took the inbounds pass and drove the length of the court.

Cleaves scored in traffic to stun the Golden Gophers, who desperately needed a win to bolster their chances of qualifying for the NCAA tournament.

Morris Peterson scored 20 points for the Spartans (11-1 Big Ten, 22-4 overall), including eight in the final 5:16 to spark Michigan State's rally.

Big Ten scoring leader Quincy Lewis scored 29 points for Minnesota (5-7, 14-8), which has lost three straight and four of five.

Charlie Bell dunked on a breakaway to make it 82-79 with 18 seconds left, but Simmons answered with a 3-pointer to tie it 10 seconds later, bringing the already delirious crowd to its feet.

But Cleaves, last year's Big Ten player of the year, silenced them with his full-court drive, capping his second-highest scoring game of the season.

No. 21 Purdue 63, Illinois 56

Illinois coach Lon Kruger called it a game of ''streaks and stretches.''

But while Kruger's team had runs of 10-0 and 17-0, No. 21 Purdue had a streak when it really counted - hitting all eight free throw attempts in the last three minutes to beat Illinois 63-56 Saturday.

The victory was the first time all season the Boilermakers (6-5, 18-7) have won back-to-back games in the conference - something that made coach Gene Keady very pleased.

''It's the first Saturday, I think since Christmas, that I'm going to be able to go home and enjoy seeing my wife and not have to worry about the next morning's papers saying something negative about the way I coach. Hah,'' Keady laughed. ''Is that beautiful or what?''

Jaraan Cornell scored a career-high 30 points - including three crucial 3-pointers within three minutes in the second half - to lead Purdue.

No. 17 Indiana 69, Northwestern 62 (OT)

After the 17th-ranked Hoosiers pitched a shutout in overtime to beat the Wildcats 69-62, Indiana coach Bob Knight wanted O'Neill to know he didn't appreciate some of the chants resonating from the bleachers at the end of the floor.

O'Neill, combustible in his own right, didn't appreciate it and had to be separated from his counterpart, an ugly ending to an emotional game. Less than an hour after the game, the two met on a side practice court, sat together under a basket and talked.

''I'm going to fight Knight at noon tomorrow over in Bloomington,'' joked O'Neill.

But it wasn't funny when it first happened. The loss was tough enough for Northwestern, battling for a first-ever bid to the NCAA tournament.

Knight said he approached O'Neill to tell him he didn't like the crowd's behavior and that set things off. ''Kevin said, 'I have no control over it,' and I said, 'I know that,''' Knight related.

Indiana's collapsing zone defense in the second half was the difference because it took 6-foot-11 Northwestern center Evan Eschmeyer out of the game.

Eschmeyer, averaging 20.5 points, was held to just 12 before fouling out in overtime. He managed only two points and two shots in the second half.

Little-used used Lynn Washington's only basket gave Indiana (6-6, 19-8) the lead at 64-62 in overtime. A.J. Guyton sealed the win with four free throws, capping his 22-point performance.

No. 15 Wisconsin 73, Penn State 63

First, the Wisconsin football team had its winningest season in a century-plus of competition. Now, it's the basketball team's turn.

Wisconsin got 16 points from Mark Vershaw and 10 in the final three minutes from fellow sub Charlie Wills as the 15th-ranked Badgers beat Penn State 73-63 Saturday night for a school-record 21st victory.

''I've coached a lot of teams over 34 years and I evaluate each of them on one standard, and that is how close each comes to its potential,'' Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett said. ''I've had a lot of teams that have played close to their potential. This one goes at the top of the list because of the competition.

''It's remarkable that they have consistently met the opposition and played with the shortcomings we have. That's a tribute to these kids because I don't do anything different.''

The Badgers are essentially the same team that labored through a 12-19 season last year, except for a deeper bench.

And that bench scored 41 points Saturday night, including 16 by Vershaw and 14 by Wills. Sean Mason added 15 points for the Badgers (9-4, 21-5 ).

But the Nittany Lions (2-10, 10-12) trailed just 63-59 with two minutes left after Greg Grays' two foul shots. Dan Earl, who had 15 points, scored eight straight points to rally Penn State.

Wills re-established the Badgers' momentum with an 18-foot jumper with 1:18 left that made it 65-59. He then hit all six of his foul shots in the final 43 seconds.

In 101 years of basketball, Wisconsin has just three 20-win seasons, in 1915-16 and in 1940-41, when the Badgers won their only NCAA championship.

''I know it's something special to the state and the university,'' sophomore guard Mike Kelley said. ''As time goes on it will probably be even more significant.''

No. 13 Ohio State 73, No. 19 Iowa 69

Normally, a team that gets outrebounded by 11, shoots 38 percent from the field and misses 12 of 30 free throws is going to lose.

But if it has two guards like Scoonie Penn and Michael Redd, anything can happen.

It did Saturday night, when Penn scored 24 of his 27 points in the second half and Redd added 22 points to rally 13th-ranked Ohio State to a 73-69 victory over No. 19 Iowa for the Buckeyes fourth straight win.

''Penn and Redd, they have such good skills. They can shoot from outside or drive on you. And they are so quick,'' Iowa coach Tom Davis said.

Penn and Redd combined to scored 32 of their team's last 37 points, which Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien said was by design.

''This game shows that we have two premier guards in Michael Redd and Scoonie Penn,'' O'Brien said. ''We decided to let Redd and Penn go with it and carry the team with six minutes to go in the game. They made some plays and some good passes.''

The Hawkeyes pounded Ohio State on the backboards by a 48-37 margin and enjoyed a 10-point lead about six minutes into the second half but hurt themselves with even worse free throw shooting than Ohio State.

Penn said it didn't look good for the Buckeyes, but they refused to fold.

''We kept our composure and we kept working hard and eventually got back into the game,'' he said. ''I don't know if there was any particular turning point, just the fact that we stayed after it and kept playing hard the whole game.''

02-15-99