Three-headed monster solves MSU's Taylor

INDIANAPOLIS - Senior Dane Fife submitted his request to guard Michigan State's Marcus Taylor early this week. Friday in the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten Tournament in Conseco Fieldhouse, he got his wish. Then split the duties three ways.\nFife, with help from junior Tom Coverdale and freshman Donald Perry, hounded Taylor, the Big Ten's leading scorer and top assist man, all\nafternoon as No. 21 and fourth-seeded IU (20-10) won 67-56 over the fifth-seeded Spartans (19-11). Taylor scored a game-high 20 points but was just 8 of 18 from the field and committed six turnovers with only two assists.\n"I was expecting to guard him this whole time," said Fife, who played against Taylor when the two played high school basketball in Michigan. "I was happy they finally stuck me on him."\nTaylor's sloppy box score indicates the success the Spartans have had against the Hoosiers all season. In IU's 83-65 win in Bloomington Jan. 8, Taylor had two assists and four turnovers. In MSU's 57-54 win in East Lansing Feb. 24, Taylor finished with eight assists and didn't commit any turnovers.\nIn both of those games, Coverdale defended Taylor, but Friday was different. Fife and Coverdale split the duties early in the game, holding Taylor to five first-half points.\nCome the second half, Fife and Coverdale had unexpected help.\nPerry, a freshman guard, guarded Taylor for most of the 12 minutes he played in the second half. Perry entered near the 17-minute mark and didn't come out until 4:37 remained with the Hoosiers leading 58-48.\nIn that time, Perry scored four points, grabbed a rebound and an assist. In the same time-span, Taylor scored seven points, but couldn't get the Spartans out from as much as a 14-point hole.\n"I don't think we reacted well to (IU's defense)," Taylor said. "I think we got a little frustrated getting into our sets, so that kind of frustrated the perimeter."\nIU consistently pushed the MSU offense to start from near mid-court, forcing MSU to shoot 3 of 13 from the three-point line. Taylor was 1 of 7 and missed all five of his tries in the second half.\nTaylor, the first Big Ten player to lead the league in both scoring and assists since Iowa's Andre Woolridge in 1997, scored eight points down the stretch in the last meeting between the two schools.\nFriday, he scored nine of the Spartans' final 13 points, but IU responded to each bucket and never let its lead shrink to less than six.\nA pair of Taylor turnovers in the final minutes helped IU maintain its lead and spoiled MSU's bid to win its third Big Ten Tournament.\nFife, Coverdale and Perry took some of the credit and spread the rest around.\n"I just tried to stay in front of him, and when he shot, just contest it," Perry said. "They run him off a lot of ball screens and you have to fight through them. I did a good job today."\nIU coach Mike Davis agreed, and said a deeper bench and intense defensive approach ignited the Hoosiers' victory.\n"Coverdale, his intensity dropped off, and I put Perry in. Perry did a good job," Davis said. "Taylor is playing better than anyone in the Big Ten. We came out tonight defensively and really established ourselves"