Michigan State sneaks past Illinois with crushing dunk
Star guard Ayo Dosunmu crumbled to the floor clutching his left knee as Michigan State’s Xavier Tillman threw down a huge dunk at the buzzer that lifted the Spartans over No. 22 Illinois 70-69 on Tuesday night in Champaign, Illinois.
The severity of Dosunmu’s injury wasn’t immediately made available. The Illini’s leading scorer had 17 points Tuesday.
Rocket Watts led the Spartans (17-8, 9-5 Big Ten) with 21 points, and Tillman had 17.
Andres Feliz scored 15 points, and Kofi Cockburn added 11 for Illinois (16-8, 8-5).
The Spartans led 37-20 at the half after starting the game on an 8-0 run.
TOPPIN REUNION FAVORS DAYTON >> Obi Toppin scored 22 points and led an opening 17-point spurt as No. 6 Dayton surged to an 8167 home victory over Rhode Island, dominating a match-up of the Toppin brothers and the Atlantic 10’s top teams.
Dayton (22-2, 11-0) won its 13th in a row.
Fatts Russell had 19 points for Rhode Island (18-6, 10-2), which had a 10-game winning streak snapped.
The Toppin family reunion matched Obi and younger brother Jacob — a freshman reserve at Rhode Island — on a college court for the first time. Their mother, Roni, sat in the stands wearing a combo jersey, half of it Rams blue and the other half Flyers red.
Obi Toppin hit two jumpers and a breakaway, right-hand dunk during the opening 17-0 run.
NO. 13 PENN STATE RELIES ON 3-POINT FLURRY TO WIN AT PURDUE >> Mike Watkins matched his season high with 19 points, and Seth Lundy added a career-high 18 to help No. 13 Penn State rout Purdue 88-76. The Nittany Lions (19-5, 9-4 Big Ten) made a season-high 14 3-pointers for their seventh consecutive victory that also , snapped g a nine-game losing streak in the series. It was Penn State’s first win in West Lafayette, Indiana, since Feb. 18, 2006.
Trevion Williams finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead Purdue (14-11, 7-7), which had its three-game winning streak end.
NO. 12 KENTUCKY RALLIES FROM 14 DOWN, BEATS VANDERBILT >> Tyrese Maxey scored 25 points, and the 12th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats (19-5, 9-2 SEC) rallied from their biggest halftime deficit of the season to beat Vanderbilt (9-15, 1-10) 78-64 on the road. WAKE FOREST EARNS RARE WIN OVER TAR HEELS >> Andrien White scored 15 points to help Wake Forest beat cold-shooting North Carolina 74-57 at home.
Brandon Childress added 14 points for the Demon Deacons (11-13, 4-10 Atlantic Coast Conference). It marked Wake Forest’s first win against North Carolina since January 2014.
North Carolina (10-14, 3-10) never led on its way to a fourth straight loss.