Michigan State 61, Virginia 59

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.