Late Evansville basket sends Loyola to defeat
D. J. Balentine sank a onehander from the lane with 18 seconds left to lift Evansville to a 74- 73 victory Sunday against Loyola in Missouri Valley Conference action at Gentile Arena.
Egidijus Mockevicius had 24 points and 16 rebounds and Balentine 16 points for the Purple Aces ( 20- 7, 9- 5), who reached 20 victories for the first time since the 1998- 99 season. Devon Turk scored 22 points and Earl Peterson 15 for the Ramblers ( 12- 14, 5- 9).
Evansville led by 19 points in the second half, but a basket by Montel James with 31 seconds left capped a 14- 2 run that gave Loyola its first lead — 73- 72 — since it scored the first basket of the game.
After the basket by Balentine, the Ramblers turned the ball over on a five- second call despite having two timeouts left. They got the ball back with six seconds left after forcing a tie- up, but Milton Doyle missed a contested 17- footer at the buzzer.
Michigan State 88, Indiana 69
Denzel Valentine scored 30 points and handed out 13 assists, Matt Costello had a career- high 22 points and 11 rebounds and the No. 8 Spartans ( 21- 5, 8- 5) used a 23- 4 burst in the second half to break open a close game on their way to a Big Ten victory against the Hoosiers ( 20- 6, 10- 3) in East Lansing, Michigan.
Bryn Forbes added 14 points for Michigan State, which scored the last nine points of the first half to turn a 40- 32 deficit into a 41- 40 lead, then went on their decisive spurt to turn a 45- 43 deficit early in the second half into a 66- 49 lead with 9: 21 left. The Spartans shot 57.6 percent.
Max Bielfeldt had 15 points and 10 rebounds, Robert Johnson 11 points and Thomas Bryant 10 points for Indiana, but leading scorer Kevin ‘‘ Yogi’’ Ferrell was limited to nine points — eight fewer than his season average— on 3- for- 10 shooting.
Iowa 75, Minnesota 71
Peter Jok scored 27 points, Jarrod Uthoff added 24 points, 15 rebounds and six blocked shots and the No. 4 Hawkeyes ( 20- 5, 11- 2) fought off the Golden Gophers ( 6- 19, 0- 13) in Iowa City to take sole possession of first place in the Big Ten.
Nate Mason led four players in double figures with 14 points for Minnesota, which cut a 10- point deficit to two with three minutes left but still lost its 14th game in a row.