Yaxel Lendeborg poured in a game-high 27 points on just 12 shots as No. 3 Michigan swept the season series against No. 8 Michigan State with a 90-80 victory in a Big Ten regular-season finale on Sunday afternoon in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Morez Johnson Jr. posted 18 points and seven rebounds while Roddy Gayle Jr. scored 15 points and Trey McKenney notched 12 points off the bench for Michigan (29-2, 19-1), which wrapped up the best Big Ten record since undefeated Indiana in 1975-76.
Jaxon Kohler paced Michigan State (25-6, 15-5) with 23 points and eight rebounds while Jeremy Fears Jr. provided 22 points and nine assists. The Spartans will settle for with the No. 3 seed in next week’s Big Ten tournament if Nebraska completes its win against Iowa.
Michigan missed its first seven shots and Michigan State broke to a 7-3 lead, but the Wolverines followed with a 11-0 run that incorporated the first of three technical fouls whistled in the opening 10 minutes.
At the 14:24 mark, an officials’ replay determined Fears merited a technical foul after using the back of his leg to hit Elliot Cadeau in the groin immediately after Cadeau was whistled for reaching in for a foul. That turned into two Lendeborg free throws.
Just 61 seconds later, Aday Mara was issued a technical foul for pushing Carson Cooper (19 points) in the back after a Gayle layup. Fears hit both free throws to snap the Michigan run.
With 10:44 on the clock, McKenney scored a breakaway layup but knocked the ball out of Kohler’s hands as he prepared to inbound the ball. Fears’ subsequent free throw cut Michigan’s lead to 18-14.
All three Michigan big men — Mara, Johnson and Will Tschetter — went to the bench with two fouls late in the first half, so Michigan State capitalized with an 8-0 run to take the lead. But Lendeborg fed Nimari Burnett (10 points) for a 3-pointer in the waning seconds to give the Wolverines a 42-41 edge at the half.
The second half turned into a frequent highlight reel as the Wolverines and Spartans battled to the finish. During one 30-second stretch, Kohler flushed a 3-pointer to give Michigan State a 56-53 lead. Lendeborg responded with an acrobatic dunk driving the baseline, but Coen Carr countered with a dunk in a Michigan defender’s face to regain the three-point edge.
Michigan took the lead for good on Gayle’s basket in the paint with 10:32 to go, but the Wolverines didn’t pull away until the final three minutes.
Lendeborg lobbed an alley-oop to Johnson for a ferocious dunk that made it 78-72 with 2:34 to go, then the Wolverines stopped the Spartans on four straight possessions to build an 83-72 advantage.
