SPARTANS

Forbes makes it rain 3s as MSU trounces UM

Tony Paul
The Detroit News

Ann Arbor — In their only meeting of the regular season, Michigan State made enough of an impression to hold them over for another year.

Bryn Forbes got open look after open look and didn't miss, finishing with 29 points thanks to eight 3-pointers as the No. 10 Spartans rolled the reeling Wolverines, 89-73, before a packed house Saturday.

Forbes started the game 6-for-6 on 3s and finished with seven in the first half alone, as the Spartans had command of this one -- a showing of two teams heading in totally opposite directions — from the get-go.

BOX SCORE: Michigan State 89, Michigan 73

It marks the fourth consecutive win for Michigan State (20-4, 7-4 Big Ten), after three straight losses.

Denzel Valentine finished with 21 points, as he and Forbes were a combined 18-for-26 shooting -- as they continue to be in the discussion for best duo in the nation.

Michigan (17-7, 7-4) had few answers, mostly because it couldn't make its 3-pointers, again.

Valentine finished two assists and one rebounds shy of another triple-double, and he probably gets it if the game was closer, and he didn't exit so early.

While Forbes and Valentine couldn't miss, The Wolverines finished 8-for-28 on 3s, including 4-for-16 in the opening half.

Michigan took Duncan Robinson completely out of the game; he didn't make a 3-pointer for the first time since the season opener against Northern Michigan.

The loss caps a devastating week for Michigan, which got crushed three days earlier by Indiana, also at home — and didn't see Caris LeVert (lower-left leg) return, as he missed his ninth and 10 consecutive games. This comes after winning four in a row.

Zak Irvin scored 19 and Derrick Walton Jr. 11 for Michigan, which shot 44.8 percent to an 64 for Michigan State. Aubrey Dawkins scored 14, mostly late.

Matt Costello, whom Michigan coach John Beilein called a huge key to the game, was dominant in the second half, scoring 13 of his 14 points after the break, including a couple moves that left the crowd deflated -- a reverse move, then a steal and a fast-break dunk. He also had eight rebounds.

Michigan never got closer than 16 points in the second half and Beilein was a buzzer-beating 3 by Kameron Chatman from suffering the most-lopsided home loss in his nine-season tenure.

The eight 3-pointers made were a career-best for Forbes, who at one point more than halfway through the first half had made six of them — to one for the entire Michigan team. He was one off tying the Crisler Center record, and just before he exited for the game, he made one, but it was waved off by an MSU foul.

Both teams hit the road for their next game, with Michigan State visiting Purdue on Tuesday and Michigan playing at Minnesota on Wednesday.

tpaul@detroitnews.com

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