Two-minute drilled

Late first-half run, Cleaves' 25 lift State

EAST LANSING - Mateen Cleaves was having trouble sleeping. Just hours before his Michigan State team would meet Michigan, the Spartans' floor leader wasn't thinking about the game, but rather who would be in the stands.

With Michigan State's 1979 national championship team in attendance to celebrate its 20-year anniversary, Cleaves wanted to make sure that his Spartans put on a good show for their predecessors.

He didn't disappoint.

Cleaves turned in a brilliant all-around performance on Saturday, leading No. 12 Michigan State (1-1 Big Ten, 12-4 overall) to an 81-67 victory over Michigan (2-2, 8-9) while quieting criticism about his recent play.

AP PHOTO Michigan guard Louis Bullock was harassed all day by the Michigan State defenders. He managed 15 points, but many of them were too late to save the Wolverines. The Spartans took the first of the season's two Michigan-Michigan State matchups in East Lansing, 81-67.

"I was like, 'We can't lose in front of them," said Cleaves, who attributed his play to an inspiring pregame talk with 1979 team member Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

And Cleaves did everything to ensure that Michigan State wouldn't. He poured in a season-high 25 points, and burned Michigan with more than just his scoring.

Cleaves ignited a balanced offensive attack, dishing out eight assists as three of his teammates scored in double figures as well.

"I just played with energy and tried to have fun out there," Cleaves said. "As if I were a kid again, playing ball at the playground."

At times, the game did resemble playground basketball. With both teams combining for 43 turnovers, the game was played at a breakneck tempo with plenty of baskets scored in transition.

That suited Cleaves and the athletic Spartans just fine. With Cleaves hounding Robbie Reid the entire game, and forward Morris Peterson limiting Louis Bullock's open looks at the basket, Michigan State forced the Wolverines into a 44-percent shooting performance from the field.

Bullock shot just 3-for-14 from the field, and scored eight of his 15 points from the free throw line. Reid, heckled mercilessly by the Breslin crowd after an early airball, managed only seven points on 2-for-8 shooting.

That meant plenty of rebounds, which the Spartans promptly grabbed and took the other way, with Cleaves leading the break.

"We feed off of our defense," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "Hopefully, they can force tough shots so we can get rebounds and get going. We try to let our defense dictate our offense."

Michigan State's defense was so tenacious that it succeeded in dictating Michigan's offense as well. With Bullock and Reid non-factors - the duo combined for just two points in the first half - Michigan's offense was forced to rely on its inexperienced frontcourt.

And the big men answered the call admirably. In the absence of any backcourt scoring, forward Josh Asselin established himself as an offensive weapon, scoring a career-high 17 points and breaking the mark of 16 he set earlier in the week against Indiana. Forward Brandon Smith added 10 points and center Peter Vignier scored nine.

"That's encouraging," Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe said of the frontcourt's play. "We see that we can score points and rebound against a top-1 5 team. That gives us an opportunity to have offensive balance on a consistent basis, which is what we're looking for."

Smith was Michigan's most consistent scoring threat in the first half, scoring all 10 of his points before being handcuffed by foul trouble for most of the second half. During one two-minute stretch, Smith scored seven straight Michigan points, ending with a 3-pointer from the left side with 4:01 remaining that cut the Michigan State lead to 26-25 and prompted Izzo to call a timeout.

And just like Michigan's win over Indiana - which saw Michigan score seven quick points in the final minute of the half - the tone for the game would be set during the crucial moments leading up to halftime.

After the two teams traded buckets out of the timeout, Michigan State exploded for a 10-0 run in the last three minutes of the half. The stretch was capped by a pair of Andre Hutson free throws with 2.8 seconds to play that gave the Spartans a 38-27 lead. Michigan would get no closer than six points the rest of the way.

"That was crucial," Ellerbe said of Michigan State's run. "We're not an explosive offensive team, so we don't want those runs affect us. We let that happen.

"I say 'we' because we let that happen, and that's the hard thing for me to swallow," Ellerbe said.

01-11-99