ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Michigan coach John Beilein is willing to give Nik Stauskas a little leeway when it comes to shot selection. "Hes looking for a perfect play all the time, and shooters got to shoot it," Beilein said. "Sometimes whats a bad shot for others is a really good shot for him." Stauskas scored 21 of his 25 points in the second half Sunday, repeatedly making contested shots from the perimeter to help the 20th-ranked Wolverines to a 79-70 win over 13th-ranked Michigan State. Michigan rallied from an 11-point first-half deficit and wrested first place in the Big Ten from its in-state rival. "I just came out with the mindset in the second half that I wasnt going to be stopped," Stauskas said. "Once I made a couple shots, it kept going from there." Caris LeVert added 23 points for the Wolverines (19-7, 11-3), who won both regular-season meetings against Michigan State and six of the last eight games in the series. The Spartans (22-6, 11-4) started well, but were only up 36-34 at halftime. Then Stauskas and LeVert led a second-half charge. The Wolverines trailed 52-51 before going on a 13-0 run that sent the Crisler Center crowd into delirium. Michigan scored 45 points in the second half Sunday -- after blitzing the Spartans for 50 after halftime in an 80-75 win in East Lansing last month. "The first game, I was very proud of our effort. This game, we looked tired," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "Im not very proud of our effort." Gary Harris scored 21 points for the Spartans. The victory gives Michigan a chance to earn its second Big Ten title in three years after tying for the championship in 2012. The Wolverines have home games against Minnesota and Indiana, as well as trips to Purdue and Illinois. Michigan State has home games against Illinois and Iowa followed by a trip to Ohio State. Stauskas was terrific in Michigans win at Michigan State last month, but he had not scored more than 16 points in a game since then. Perhaps he was letting opposing teams take him out of the offence too easily, but at 6-foot-6, if Stauskas makes up his mind that hes going to shoot, he usually can. With the Wolverines down 48-43, Stauskas scored seven straight points to give Michigan the lead. When the Spartans edged back ahead by one, Stauskas answered with a 3-pointer, and it soon become clear that there wasnt much Michigan State could do to keep him from shooting over defenders on the perimeter. A 3-pointer by Stauskas from the right wing put Michigan ahead 59-52, then LeVert added a 3-pointer and a dunk. With the Spartans wearing down, Jon Horford dunked for Michigan to make it 68-56 -- and that ended a stretch of 23 straight Michigan points by Stauskas or LeVert. Michigan fans serenaded the Spartans with a chant of "little brother" toward the end. The Spartans have battled injuries throughout this season -- Adreian Payne and Brandon Dawson missed the first meeting with Michigan. Dawson was still out Sunday with his broken hand, but Payne is back, and he had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Keith Appling, who has been dealing with a wrist problem, scored only six points for Michigan State. "Yeah, I fell on the wrist again, but I couldnt come out of the game," Appling said. "Its very frustrating right now, because there are things I just cant do, but I cant let that be an excuse. Im the quarterback of this team, like coach always says, and I have to be out there leading." Michigan, of course, has been playing without big man Mitch McGary for over two months, but the Wolverines have overcome his back-related absence thus far. Glenn Robinson III scored 15 points Sunday, including an alley-oop dunk from a driving Stauskas that made it 72-61. Michigan State made 17 shots from 3-point range in its previous game against Purdue, and the Spartans were locked in early in this one. Payne dunked on freshman Zak Irvin while drawing a foul, and the three-point play gave Michigan State a 22-11 lead. The Wolverines responded with a 10-0 run that included 3-pointers by Spike Albrecht and LeVert and a breakaway dunk by Irvin. LeVert scored 14 points in the first half, and his 3-pointer in the final seconds cut Michigan States lead to two. Discount Pittsburgh Steelers Jerseys . Pearce had a career-high four hits and drove in two runs, and Wei-Yin Chen shut down Texas again as the Orioles completed a four-game sweep of the Rangers with a 5-2 victory on Thursday night. Custom Steelers Jerseys .J. -- The New York Jets have promoted Tony Sparano Jr. http://www.cheapsteelers.com/ . Now he has a complete game. Scherzer tossed a three-hitter in his 179th career start for his first complete game and Victor Martinez hit his 16th homer to lead the Detroit Tigers a 4-0 win over the Chicago White Sox. Cheap Pittsburgh Steelers Jerseys Online .com) - Theres nothing better for a team than to send out the staff ace in the most important game of the season. Pittsburgh Steelers Jerseys China . Trailing by a goal after 20 minutes of play, Joe Pavelski responded with three goals and an assist as the Sharks snapped a two-game losing skid with a 5-2 victory over the struggling Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hi Kerry, Watching the Canucks recent road trip to Los Angeles and Anaheim, I was sickened at how many time Luongo and Lack were run. I would like you to comment on two particular incidents in each game involving Dustin Brown, and then Corey Perry were absolutely despicable. In both cases, the players came barreling to the net and when feeling the slightest contact from the defender launches their bodies into Luongo and Lack (in Browns incident, he actually does a twist in the air). How is a goalie supposed to make the save while trying to protect themselves from being run? Do you really think that this is good for the NHL? Does the NHL look into these as supplementary discipline? Id be ok with a penalty to the defender and the forward but there should not be a goal. Its kind of similar to calling a hook and a dive where the dive is an obvious egregious offence. Thank you,DavidVancouver BC --- Hi Kerry, You mentioned in an earlier article, that you would have given Reilly Smith a penalty for running Luongo after scoring a goal. In the weekend games against L.A. and Anaheim, Luongo and Lack were (in my opinion) bumped into without getting a single call their way. Luongo and Lack were two of the players who showed up for the games and were in position to steal points for the Canucks when they were both run into. In the game against L.A., I found it bemusing that Brown did not get a penalty after his goal left Luongo down and out. Do you agree that it was a similar situation to the Smith/Luongo incident? If so, when will you start sending your articles to referees to pay closer attention on drives to the net? For Lack, I was in the crowd and missed the number of the Duck who got him. But I can see that some would argue that a Canuck player didnt give the Duck any space to avoid a collision. As there seems to be no fear of players driving to the net, is it time to bring back the steel pegs to stop players from driving to the net hard? Its not like the magnets are helping out much (i.e. Stamkos broken leg) and it might prevent players taking runs at goalies. Thanks,GarethRichmond, BC --- Kerry, I love reading your articles and I have a couple of questions for you. I was watching the Canucks play the Kings on Saturday night and watched as Dustin Brown and two other Kings seemed to run over Luongo with no penalties called. As I watched the game, on all three occasions the Kings were "bumped" towards the net and near Luongo, however it appeared to me that the King players made a point of hitting Luongo rather than trying to avoid contact, especially on the Brown goal. Luongo is now out with a "lower body injury" seemingly caused by Brown running over Luongo. Then tonight, I watch Palmieri get bumped by the Canuck defenseman and Palmeiri absolutely run Lack over. How are these plays/hits on the Canuck goalies not a penalty? I have noticed that this year especially, all goalies across the league, seem to be "fair game" to be run over, even when they are in their creases, yet the rules state that players are not allowed to hit a goalie when they are in the goalie is in their crease. Thanks Kerry,Steve --- David, Gareth, Steve and all Canuck fans: We know that the goalkeeper, as the last line of defence, can often be the difference between winning and losing. In the game with the Kings, Roberto Luongo stood on his head as the Canucks were outshot 49-28. At the other end of the ice, while Jonathan Quick wasnt kept quite as busy he made the big saves when called upon. None were bigger than two successive game savers off the stick of Daniel Sedin with 34.3 seconds remaining and Luongo on the bench for an extra attacker. My point here is that goalies are often the most important player on a team and should be protected by the rules that the referees are expected to enforce. If questionable, I would prefer to see referees err on the side of calling penalties to protect the goalkeeper. In some cases, I would agree that attacking players use the slightest contact from a defender to deliberately propel themselves into the goalkeeper. In situations such as this the attacker will often make himself "bigger" to initiate contact with the goalkeeper or redirect and accelerate the falling action from less than reasonable force exerted against them to make more solid contact with the goalie. A penalty should be assessed in all cases when an attacker does not make a reasonable attempt to avoid contact with the goalkeeper when he has the opportunity to do so. It boggles my mind however, when I see a defensive player hit or push an opponent into their own goalkeeper from close quarters making it virtually impossible for the attacker to avoid contact. Once an attacker is vaulted toward the goalie he must protect himself and in doing so will often attempt to minimize contact by altering his body posture while flying through the air. Since your questions did not provide me with a time on the game clock when these "despicable" incidents occurrred, along with my desire to get a totally unbiased perspective I watched the Canucks-Kings game from start to finish.dddddddddddd I then was able to scan the Ducks game and find the separate plays involving contact in the crease from Corey Perry and Kyle Palmieri on Vancouver replacement goalkeeper Eddie Lack. I provide you with my independent findings. I hope you dont get lost in the detail. In L.A., both teams were setting up tight to the edge of the opposing goal crease throughout the game. In the first period the predominant contact in the crease was exerted against Jonathan Quick by Canuck players. The first incident of note occurred with 15:36 remaining when Drew Doughty bumped Mike Santorelli from behind into Quick. Then with 12:17 left in the first, Kevin Bieksa and Ryan Kessler went hard to the net and jammed at Quicks pads and eventually pushed the goalie and the puck across the line as rookie referee Mark Lemelin correctly waived off the goal. Several situations were present where players of both teams avoided or drastically minimized contact with the goalies. The first situation where I deemed a goalkeeper interference penalty was warranted occurred with 7:37 on the clock in the second period. Ryan Kesler nudged Jarret Stoll as he attacked the net from along the goal line and Stoll used to contact to continue on a path into the crease and roll over Roberto Luongo. The referee was on the opposite side of the net (once again behind the goal line!) and did not react. This would have been a perfect time to send a message to avoid the goalkeeper whenever possible. Tyler Toffoli of the Kings was fouled by Chris Higgins in a similar location along the goal line to where Stoll had been nudged. Toffoli legitimately fell into the crease but bailed and tucked to minimize impending contact with Luongo. Now comes the big question mark in the game when Dustin Brown scored the go-ahead goal for the Kings early in the 3rd and made significant contact with Roberto Luongo. FYI, I broke this one down frame-by-frame not to question the referees decision but only to provide you with an accurate take on the play. As Brown followed his shot near the top of the crease he started to square up his posture and skates in preparation for a stop motion. At that instant Mike Santorelli slipped his right leg between the skates of Brown and contacted Browns right shin just below the knee. Based on the force and location of the contact a leg whip caused Dustin Browns body to rotate in a spin toward Luongo. The "roll" that Brown executed while airborne I could argue was in an attempt to minimize and avoid direct contact with his shoulder on the Vancouver goalie which could have been more significant. As a result of the leg contact applied by Mike Santorelli at the top of the goal crease Dustin Brown was propelled into the goal crease and Roberto Luongo. Following Browns contact on Luongo, Tom Sestito of the Canucks appeared to retaliate by skating straight into Jonathan Quick inside his goal crease after play was stopped. A scrum resulted but no penalties were assessed. This was another missed opportunity to send a message when Sestito was not penalized for goalkeeper interference on the play! Moving forward to the game with the Anaheim Ducks there is no question in my mind that Corey Perry used the shove/cross-check motion from Kevin Bieksa at the top of Eddie Lacks crease to make contact with the Canuck replacement goalkeeper. Perry should have received a minor penalty for goalkeeper interference! Not only did Perry fall in the direction of Lack he appeared to extend his arm in search of his intended target. Kyle Palmieri on the other hand was propelled into Lack with significant force by Canuck defenceman Dan Hamhuis and did not deserve a goalkeeper interference penalty. Breaking this play down we can see Palmeri beat Hamhuis wide following a neutral zone face-off and proceed to attack the net parallel to the goal line. With Hamhuis tight on his back, Palmieri released a shot from the bottom of the end zone face-off circle. Both players followed the shot toward the crease. With Hamhuis still physically engage on his back quarter, Palmieri positioned his skates in a side-slide stop motion before reaching the goal crease. Kyle Palmieris upper body posture suggests that he was also pushing back away from the crease and against Hamhuis. Dan Hamhuis is visible with his knees flexed, his back arched and driving Palmieri forward with two hands toward the crease and goal post. The final pressure that Hamhuis exerted with his left glove hand was to push and twist Kyle Palmieri. This force caused the Duck forward to be launched and turned in the air toward Lack. While airborne, Palmieri continued to rotate his body slightly to avoid the goal post and thereby exposed his back to the impending contact with the goalkeeper. In the two situations where Eddie Lack was contacted by Duck players in his crease, I have to seriously question the containment tactics used by both Vancouver defensemen. The force they exerted on their opponents was in the very direction of their goalkeeper from close range. While Corey Perry deserved a penalty and Kyle Palmieri did not, the end result left their goalkeeper sprawled on the ice and susceptible to potential injury. Stitched College Jerseys Cheap UCLA Jerseys NCAA Louisville Cardinals Jerseys North Carolina Jerseys Stitched Kentucky Wildcats Jerseys Stitched Alabama Crimson Tide Jerseys Cheap Basketball Wisconsin Badgers Jerseys Authentic NCAA Jerseys Store Wholesale Basketball NCAA Jerseys Cheap Duke Gear Stitched Alabama Jerseys Stitched Georgia Jerseys Cheap Clemson Jerseys Authentic Authentic Texas Jerseys Wholesale USC Jerseys Stitched Oklahoma Jerseys Stitched Ohio State Jerseys Cheap Notre Dame Gear UCLA Jerseys From China Cheap Louisville Jerseys Free Shipping Cheap North Carolina Jerseys Authentic Cheap Kentucky Jerseys Authentic Wisconsin Jerseys From China Cheap Michigan Gear Cheap Florida Gear Wholesale Arizona State Jerseys Cheap LSU Gear Cheap Auburn Gear Cheap California Jerseys Free Shipping Cheap Miami Jerseys Authentic Cheap Michigan State Gear Cheap Tennessee Jerseys Authentic Texas A&M Jerseys From China Authentic Wake Forest Jerseys West Virginia Jerseys From China ' ' '