CHARLOTTE, NC – For the second year in a row, a lower-seeded Spartan team has prematurely ended a Cavaliers’ NCAA Tournament run, as 7th-seeded Michigan State out-battled 2nd-seeded Virginia for a 60-54 victory in the Third Round.
The game was indeed the defensive grind-it-out affair that experts predicted; moreover, the story was Virginia’s inability to hit even 30% of their shots from the field, which seriously hampered their chances of hanging with the Spartans.
The senior duo of point guard Travis Trice and forward Branden Dawson carried the Spartans with 23 and 15 points, respectively.
Defensive star, Darion Atkins, led the Cavalier effort with ten points, fourteen rebounds, and two blocked shots.
Gary Cohen and Kelly Tripucka called the action on Westwood One Sports.
