EVANSTON, Ill. -- Gary Harris sees the wins piling up for No. 4 Michigan State. What he doesnt see is a finished product. The Spartans hardly looked like one against Northwestern on Wednesday night. They still prevailed 54-40, with Harris scoring 14 points to lead them to their ninth straight victory. "We know that we werent playing as well as we can offensively," Harris said. "We had to do something defensively to kind of get us going. Get stops and get the lead. Thats what we did. Thats how we pulled away from them." The preseason favourite to win the Big Ten, the Spartans (16-1, 5-0) continue to roll along, although it was hardly an easy night for them. They overcame a sluggish start and pulled away down the stretch even though they struggled in a big way from the outside. They were 2 of 16 on 3-pointers with six airballs, by coach Tom Izzos count. Harris missed all six from long range and Keith Appling was 0 for 3. Harris did have four steals, and Appling managed to score 11 points. Branden Dawson, fighting an illness, had 11 rebounds and three blocks, and the Spartans came away with the win even though they were missing one of their top players in Adreian Payne. The 6-foot-10 forward sat out his second straight game because of a sprained right foot and will have more X-rays on Friday. "Frustrating for him," Izzo said. "Although I have to admit he actually had better suggestions on the bench than he had in the games. I appreciated him as an assistant. I thought he did a good job in the huddles, and sometimes guys grow when they dont play. They appreciate playing." Izzo said Payne spoke in the locker room afterward. "That kids grown up so much. Its been a good year for him," Izzo added. Its been a great one for Michigan State, too, even if this game was a bit ugly. Tre Demps did his best to keep Northwestern (8-10, 1-4) in the game, scoring 10 of his 12 points in the second half. But leading scorer Drew Crawford never got going. He managed just six points with Denzel Valentine guarding him most of the game. Point guard Dave Sobolewski missed his second straight game because of a concussion, and the Wildcats came up short after beating then-No. 23 Illinois on Sunday night to give new coach Chris Collins his first Big Ten victory. They havent knocked off a top-five team since they took out fourth-ranked Michigan State on Jan. 27, 1979. But Izzo insisted Collins has them on the right path, even if its been a bumpy one. The Wildcats are moving to a more free flowing offence after running the Princeton set under former coach Bill Carmody, and it hasnt been the easiest adjustment. But they see the progress even though theyve failed to hit the 50-point mark the past two games. "Were really on the verge of something good," Crawford said. Coming off back-to-back overtime wins against Ohio State and Minnesota, Michigan State probably could have used a breather. The problem was, the Spartans had trouble sustaining a run. They looked as though they were poised to put this one away after Travis Trice nailed a 3 and Matt Costello scooped in a reverse layup to make it 40-31 with 11:36 remaining. But Demps answered with a basket for Northwestern. It was 44-37 when Alex Gauna banked in a shot to start a six-point spurt that gave the Spartans a double-digit lead. Harris hit two free throws and stripped Demps, leading to two more foul shots for Appling that made it 50-37 with 4:59 left, and the Spartans hung on from there. "(Northwestern) got loose balls," Izzo said. "They did the things theyve got to do. Its a sign of a good young team thats playing hard. Its the sign of a good coach whos getting them to play hard. I think theres a lot of positive things here. We have a good team. Were not playing real good right now." Melvin Ingram Chargers Jersey . 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Mike Williams Womens Jersey .com) - Blake Griffin led five Clippers in double figures with 24 points and the LA Clippers got back on track with a 101-97 win over the Utah Jazz.SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Fed up and frustrated at the lack of effort and energy, Sacramento Kings coach Michael Malone shook up his lineup hoping to find some kind of spark. The move turned out to be exactly what his team needed. Marcus Thornton scored a season-high 24 points after losing his starting spot to rookie Ben McLemore, and the Kings snapped a five-game losing streak by beating the Brooklyn Nets 107-86 on Wednesday night. "Marcus, I said to him after the game, Maybe I shouldve put you on the bench sooner," Malone said. Greivis Vasquez had 17 points and 12 assists, and Isaiah Thomas added 19 points, six assists and six rebounds to help the Kings rout Brooklyn. Sacramento led by 18 points in the second quarter and 23 late in the third before holding off a brief rally in the fourth. The Kings shot 43.6 per cent and committed only seven turnovers. They also held the Nets to 37.8 per cent shooting and forced 15 turnovers. "If I couldve written a script for tonight," Malone said, "it wouldve played out just like it played out." Nothing has gone according to plan for the Nets this season. After acquiring Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce from Boston, the pairs championship pedigree has yet to blend in Brooklyn so far. The Nets have lost three straight to drop to 2-5 this season, including 0-4 on the road, with the latest performance perhaps the most perplexing. "Its unacceptable," first-year Nets coach Jason Kidd said. "We dont score, we hang our heads and then they score on the other end." The Nets never sustained any kind of rhythm, even after DeMarcus Cousins picked up his fourth foul and was taken out early in the third quarter. They played slow and looked like aging veterans -- especially against Sacramentos young and athletic rotation -- and were often embarrassed on both ends. Brook Lopez had 16 points and nine rebounds, and Deron Williams finished with 13 points and seven assists as the Nets lost their third straight game. Brooklyn plays at Phoenix on Friday night before wrapping up the three-game road trip at the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night. "I hope this was a wakeup call to start the trip," said Pierce, who had 12 points and nine rebounds. Sacramento, a place where most NBA fans are still just happy to have a team after the Kings nearly moved to Seattle in May, finally showed some promise on the court for the first time since winning its season opener against Denver.dddddddddddd McLemore, the seventh overall pick out of Kansas, made his first start along with Jason Thompson. Thornton and Patrick Patterson, who had eight points and a season-high 10 rebounds, moved to the bench as part of a revamped rotation Malone said he will use again Friday against Detroit. The announced crowd of 15,122 roared when McLemore finished an alley-oop from Vasquez on a fast break in the first quarter, though the rookie struggled for most of the game. McLemore finished with two points on 1-of-8 shooting. Thornton scored 13 points in the second quarter, including three 3-pointers, and tossed a lob that Cousins dunked with one hand to give the Kings a 43-25 lead. "I kept pounding in my head, Just go out there and play and relax," said Thornton, who finished 10 of 19 from the floor, adding four rebounds and two assists. "Shots started falling, and things happened." The Nets answered with 11 straight points, with Williams keying the spurt despite favouring his left ankle for a minute after slipping on teammate Andray Blatche. Cousins also was called for a technical foul -- his second this season -- to help Brooklyns run after the Sacramento centre shouted at official Joey Crawford. Sacramento closed the half leading 52-40 before blowing away Brooklyn after the break. Vasquez fed Patterson for a layup that put the Kings up 80-57 with 42 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Williams floater sliced Sacramentos lead to 84-72 early in the fourth. Then Jason Terry was called for a foul and a technical foul after elbowing Vasquez, part of a 16-8 run that gave the Kings a 100-80 lead. "Were not in a comfort zone or anything like that," Vasquez said. "We have to come back and be professional about this and build from this win." NOTES: The Kings had lost the last three games against the Nets. ... Nets F Andrei Kirilenko (back spasms) is not travelling with the team during its three-game road trip. ... Garnett played his 1,330th career game, passing Moses Malone for 10th place in NBA history. ' ' '