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EAST LANSING, Mich. -- With some swagger and a sweet stroke, Nik Stauskas lifted Michigan to a rare win at Michigan State. Stauskas made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 3:12 left and finished with 19 points to lead the 21st-ranked Wolverines to an 80-75 win over the third-ranked Spartans on Saturday night to remain the only Big Ten team without a conference loss. The sophomore shooting guard had four assists and unofficially had another one, separating coach John Beilein from a face-to-face argument with an official with 4:01 remaining. "He was about to get a technical," Stauskas said. Stauskas helped the usually mild-mannered Beilein from saying or doing something that might cost his team points just before the Wolverines (15-4, 7-0 Big Ten) went on a 10-0 run late in the game to take control. "Thats a great step in his leadership," Beilein said with a grin. The Wolverines won for just the second time in 15 games at the Breslin Center. Michigan is the first team since at least the 1996-97 season to win three straight games against top-10 teams in the regular season, according to STATS. The Wolverines, who had never pulled off that feat in school history, were coming off a win against No. 10 Iowa at home after beating then-No. 3 Wisconsin on the road. "This is a great win for us because of who we were just able to beat," Beilein said. "Its one of the classiest, best programs in the country." Freshman Derrick Walton Jr. scored a season-high 19 and Caris LeVert scored 17 for the Wolverines, who have won nine straight without standout centre Mitch McGary. The Spartans (18-2, 7-1) had won 11 straight since losing to North Carolina at home, but the streak was snapped by their rival soon after another injury-related setback. "The better team won," coach Tom Izzo acknowledged. Adreian Payne missed a fifth straight game with a sprained right foot and Branden Dawson was out for the first time since the junior forward said he broke his right hand hitting a table. Michigan, though, didnt have any sympathy. The Wolverines, who lost Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. early to the NBA, have been playing without McGary because he needed back surgery since losing to No. 1 Arizona in a closely contested game. Michigan States Gary Harris scored a career-high 27 points and didnt get much help offensively from his team that was without two of its best players. Freshman Alvin Ellis scored a season-high 12 points, surpassing his scoring total from his first seven Big Ten games. Keith Appling was held to 10 points on 3 of 11 shooting, playing with a wrist injury and bad back. "He just cant shoot right now with that wrist," Izzo said. Michigan turned 11 offensive rebounds into 15 second-chance points as it outrebounded the Spartans 34-30. The Wolverines have won five of seven in the series after losing 18 of 21, and Appling took the latest loss hard because he will not play them again at home. "I feel like I lost a close family member," he said softly. "Thats how bad it hurts." Michigan got off to a great start with Stauskas making jumpers, pumping his fist and shouting as he ran back to play defence. The Wolverines started 4 of 4 from the field and led 10-2 before losing the lead midway through the first half as Michigan States defensive intensity picked up and its crowd began to roar. Michigan made shots when it needed them most in the second half, scoring 50 points after halftime, including 5 of 8 on 3-pointers and 23 of 27 at the line. "Youre not going to beat too many teams when they shoot that way," Harris said. Phillips Valdez Jersey . On the day the club activated Casey Janssen from the 15-day disabled list, his return from a strained oblique that cost him the first six weeks of the regular season, it announced Sergio Santos would be placed on the disabled list on Monday with discomfort in his right forearm. Matt Festa Mariners Jersey .6 seconds left to give the Toronto Raptors a 92-89 victory over the Boston Celtics in an exhibition game Wednesday night. https://www.cheapmariners.com/2625k-austin-nola-jersey-mariners.html .Before a raucous sellout crowd, the Hawks won for the 29th time in 31 games to extend their Eastern-best record to 36-8.As usual, pretty much everyone chipped in.Four starters were in double figures and backup point guard Dennis Schroder led a spurt at the start of the fourth quarter that helped the Hawks pull away. Lou Piniella Jersey . Less than 24 hours after the Wolves lost at home to the Mavericks, 100-98, NBA president of basketball operations Rod Thorn announced Tuesday that Kevin Love was fouled on his right arm by Shawn Marion in the closing seconds and should have been awarded two free throws. Austin Adams Jersey . -- Falcons running back Steven Jackson, who has missed the last four games with a hamstring injury, is expected to practice on Wednesday.Wayne Simmonds and Steve Mason came up big with the Flyers season on the line and forced a Game Seven. Scott Cullen has notes on Simmonds, Mason, Lundqvist, Giroux, Hagelin and more. LETS GO SEVEN Wayne Simmonds scored a hat trick and Steve Mason stopped 34 of 36 New York Rangers shots as the Philadelphia Flyers won 5-2 in Game Six, forcing a Game Seven to decide the series Wednesday night. Simmonds, who scored a career-high 29 goals and 60 points during the regular season, erupted for three goals, all from within a few feet of the net. Officially, Simmonds three goals traveled a total of 20 feet, but thats not unusual -- among players with at least 20 goals, Simmonds average shooting distance of 26.0 feet during the regular season ranked 15th, so he makes his bones as a presence in front of the net. In addition, or at least underlying his three-goal performance, Simmonds generated 11 shot attempts in only 12:50 of ice time. While Simmonds was cleaning up the scraps around the Rangers net, Mason was taking care of business in the Philadelphia net, making quite a few high-quality saves to preserve the Flyers lead, even though the Rangers carried a lot of the play (and before score effects kicked in). Mason has stopped 92 of 98 shots that hes faced (.939 SV%) since joining the series in Game Three. Thats better than usual from Mason, who has a career save percentage of .907 and a .920 mark in 68 games with the Flyers, but Philadelphia needs him to continue at that level for one more game to get through this series. Flyers D Erik Gustafsson, replacing Hal Gill (who was replacing Nicklas Grossman) in the lineup, scored a goal on a breakaway coming out of thhe penalty box and had solid relative possession numbers.dddddddddddd For the Blueshirts, Henrik Lundqvist comes with the much higher pedigree, but after allowing four goals on 23 shots in Game Six (before getting pulled in favour of Cam Talbot), his save percentage in the series has dipped to .892 (132 saves on 148 shots). Lundqvist has a .920 career save percentage in both the regular season and playoffs, over a span of 647 games. That track record ranks him among the elite puckstoppers in the league, but its imperative for the Rangers that Lundqvist bounce back in Game Seven. Its not just Lundqvist that needs to be better, though. The Rangers power play is in a 0-for-20 streak since Benoit Pouliots goal in the first period of Game Two. While RW Rick Nash has yet to score a goal in the series, hes put 25 shots on goal and has the best possession numbers for the Rangers in the series. Flyers C Claude Giroux contributed a goal and two assists to the cause, his goal coming into an empty net with 4:11 remaining in the third period, giving him six points through six games. Rangers LW Carl Hagelin scored a goal, but created many chances in Game Six, registering nine shot attempts in 14:50 of ice time and rookie J.T. Miller had an assist for the second straight game since being inserted into the lineup. No team has won back-to-back games in this series, so perhaps that favours the Rangers going into Game Seven, though owning the possession battle would be more relevant. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '