12/18 Big Ten Recap: Fort Wayne Demolishes Indiana Hoosiers

The Big Ten had two teams in action Monday night, both with polar opposite performance. In East Lansing, Michigan State completely dismantled Houston Baptist on their way to scoring their most points since 2011. About four hours south in Bloomington the Hoosiers were shot out of Assembly Hall.

Lets see how the action played out Monday night.

Game Of The Night

Fort Wayne Mastodons 92, Indiana Hoosiers 72

If last season’s loss to Fort Wayne looked bad for Indiana....there are no words to describe Monday night’s 20 point drubbing in Bloomington. After needing overtime to beat the Hoosiers last season, the Mastodons had four players in double-figures to embarrass Indiana in front of their home fans.

In the early stages of the contest, Indiana and Fort Wayne played a back-and-forth game. The Hoosiers were able to regroup after trailing 33-27 and retake the lead 40-36. Then Fort Wayne began to hit their 3’s.

The Mastodons were led by Kason Harrell, who scored a career high 28 points, and Bryson Scott, who added 26. Fort Wayne put away Indiana handily by drilling 17 three-pointers, an Assembly Hall record.

Their first big stretch came in a 17-5 run midway through the second half where they made three three-pointers to retake the lead. With Indiana getting within seven, the Mastodons had another stretch where they hit four-three pointers in less than two minutes to extend their lead back to double-digits at 70-53. The Hoosiers never got it back under ten.

Indiana was led by Robert Johnson with a team high 17 and Juwan Morgan with 14. After dropping to 6-6, the Hoosiers will be off until Thursday when they host Tennessee Tech. The Mastodons (8-5) will play Liberty on Thursday night as well.

The Rest

No.2 Michigan State Spartans 107, Houston Baptist Huskies 63

Miles Bridges matched his career high with 33 points, Nick Ward added 20 and Michigan State took down their program block-record by recording 16 against Houston Baptist on their way to a 46 point victory. With the victory, the Spartans extend their win streak to 10 games and have not lost since falling to Duke in the Champions Classic.

Bridges did most of his damage in the first half by scoring 20 of his 33 on 8 of 11 shooting from the field and 3 of 6 behind the arc. He finished the game 11 of 14 from the field and 4 of 7 from three-point range.

Bridges was joined in double-figures by the previously mentioned Ward with 20, Josh Langford with 14, and Cassius Winston with 10, who also recorded 12 assists (a career high), for his first double-double of the season.

The Huskies were led by Jalon Gates who scored 17 points off the bench while Ian DuBose and Braxton Bonds each scored 10.

Though Houston Baptist was clearly out-matched they managed to record 24 offensive rebounds, the most the Spartans have given up since the 25 that Duke recorded in the Champions Classic.

Michigan State (11-1) returns to action Thursday night when they host Long Beach State while Houston Baptist (4-8) travel to Vanderbilt Wednesday night.