NCAA News Wire
Michigan State 61, Virginia 59
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
NEW YORK — Since his return from a broken hand in early March, forward Branden Dawson has
ignited the Michigan State Spartans.
On Friday, he led them to a spot in the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight by scoring 24 points and
grabbing 10 rebounds in Michigan State’s 61-59 win over top-seeded Virginia in the East Regional
semifinals at Madison Square Garden.
The fourth-seeded Spartans (29-8) face Connecticut in the finals on Sunday.
Dawson averaged 16.2 points and 7.8 rebounds in five postseason games for the Spartans,
including the Big Ten tournament. He missed nine games with the injury before returning March 1.
He recorded his first double-double since coming back.
Forward Adreian Payne added 16 points for the Spartans. Payne and Dawson accounted for 11 of the
Spartans’ final 15 points of the game.
Payne’s two free throws with 33 seconds to go put the Spartans ahead 58-54 before guard Travis
Trice sank two from the line for a 60-56 Spartans lead.
Cavaliers guard Malcolm Brogdon hit a 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds left.
Brogdon and Harris led the Cavaliers with 17 points apiece.
Payne drilled a 3-pointer to put the Spartans ahead 54-51 and a Dawson alley-oop made it 56-51
with 53 seconds left to play. Virginia guard Justin Anderson’s 3-pointer from the right corner
tied the game at 51-51 with 1:42 to play.
The Spartans went five minutes without scoring until a Dawson dunk with 13:27 to play drew
Michigan State to within two points at 36-34. That was the start of an 11-4 run that gave the
Spartans a 43-40 edge with 9:18 to play.
Michigan State led throughout the majority of the first half. A dunk by the Spartans’ Gary
Harris and a jumper from Dawson broke a 27-27 tie with 1:07 to go, giving Michigan State a 31-27
lead at the break.
Virginia trailed 23-13 with 9:01 left in the half, then went on a 7-0 run to cut the Spartans
lead to 23-20 with 6:13 remaining. Harris scored five of those points.
NOTES: Virginia is making its first Sweet 16 appearance since 1995. … Coach Tom Izzo has led
Michigan State to six Final Fours, including the 2000 national championship. This is Izzo’s sixth
team to reach the round of 16 in the last seven years. … The East Regional games are the first
NCAA Tournament games played at Madison Square Garden since 1961. … The last meeting between the
two schools ended in an 82-75 Michigan State win in 2002. … This is the fourth time in school
history that Virginia is a No. 1 seed (1981, 1982 and 1983). … The Cavaliers finished first in
the ACC in field-goal percentage (.386) and rebounding margin (6.2). … Going into the East
Regional semifinal, the Cavaliers had held 23 straight teams below 50 percent shooting from the
field.
