Three Big Ten teams advance

Michigan State overcomes 10-point deficit at half, prevails

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) - Mateen Cleaves and Michigan State are still on a mission for a second straight trip to the Final Four thanks to a defense that held Syracuse scoreless for the last 5:54.

Charlie Bell, aching knee and all, scored 12 points and sparked a second-half comeback as top-seeded Michigan State, after trailing by as many as 14, roared back to beat Syracuse 75-58 yesterday night in the Midwest Regional semifinals.

The Spartans (29-7) will play Iowa State tomorrow night for a trip to the Final Four in Indianapolis.

Syracuse (26-6) looked ready to run the Spartans right out of The Palace, to the dismay of a highly partisan Michigan State crowd. But Cleaves, who returned for his senior season with the expressed hope of winning a national championship, wouldn't let it happen.

Cleaves, scoreless in the first half, scored 10 points - most of them early in the second half - to get the Spartans rolling. Morris Peterson had 16 of his 21 points in the second half, too.

But it was Bell - who scored nine of his points in the second half - who put the Orangemen away.

Iowa State 80, UCLA 56: Iowa State used its quickness and defense to ground UCLA's high-flying offense, then put the Bruins away with steady shooting and strong inside play.

Marcus Fizer, Stevie Johnson and Michael Nurse had 16 points each as the second-seeded Cyclones beat the sixth-seeded Bruins 80-56 yesterday night in the Midwest Regional semifinals.

Jamaal Tinsley added 14 points to help the Cyclones (32-4) extend their winning streak to 10 games and advance to the final eight for the first time.

Iowa State will face top-seeded Michigan State tomorrow. The Spartans beat Syracuse 75-58.

UCLA's acrobatic offense, which produced 14 alley-oop baskets in a 35-point victory over Maryland in the second round, never got started against the Cyclones.

Purdue 75, Gonzaga 66: Gonzaga is gone, done in by defense and rebounding, and Purdue coach Gene Keady is one victory from his first trip to the Final Four in 20 seasons as coach of the Boilermakers.

Purdue slowed the game to a half-court pace and pestered Gonzaga's guards into a miserable shooting night to beat the Bulldogs 75-66 yesterday night in the West Regional semifinals.

Jaraan Cornell, whose season-long shooting slump came to an end when the NCAA Tournament began, scored 18 points for the sixth-seeded Boilermakers (24-9), who play the winner of Thursday night's LSU-Wisconsin game in tomorrow's regional final.

In Keady's 20 seasons at Purdue, the Boilermakers have been to the round of 16 five times, including the past three years. But this will be just their second appearance in a regional final in that span.

Wisconsin 61, Louisiana State 48: Wisconsin is still winning ugly, with the plodding but productive Badgers beating Louisiana State 61-48 yesterday night to make it an all-Big Ten final in the West Regional.

The Badgers (21-13) will meet Purdue (24-9) tomorrow for a spot in the Final Four. The Boilermakers beat Gonzaga 75-66 in the other semifinal.

Coupled with Michigan State's win over Syracuse in the Midwest, the Big Ten has three teams in the final eight.

Jon Bryant led Wisconsin with 16 points. Stromile Swift and Jabari Smith each scored 12 for Louisiana State (28-6).

Louisiana State, which used its speed and frontline duo of Swift and Smith to beat Southeast Missouri State and Texas in th first two rounds, hit a wall against a Wisconsin team that forced its deliberate, halfcourt offense and man defense on the frustrated Tigers.

The 48 points were the fewest scored by Louisiana State this season.

-18 lead with 13:44 left. Bryant's 3-pointer got the run

going and Duany Duany's 3-pointer ended it. Bryant also scored on a layup and Maurice

Linton added a jumper from just inside the arc.

Wisconsin advanced despite missing 18 of its first 23 shots and shooting 38 percent. But

while the Badgers were having trouble scoring in the game's first 15 minutes, LSU was having

a difficult time holding onto the ball.

AP PHOTO

Senior point guard Mateen Cleaves flexed his muscles in Michigan State's 75-58 win over Syracuse, scoring 10 points.