STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Down at halftime, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo threatened to really leave his listless team behind -- as in an extra night on the road in Happy Valley. "I told them we were staying here New Years," Izzo said. "Everythings closed down here. It would have been a good place to keep them." Truth is, the Spartans were getting on their plane no matter the outcome, and it was only a matter of time before they got rolling against overmatched Penn State. Branden Dawson scored 20 points, Keith Appling had 14 and No. 5 Michigan State clamped down on defence in the second half to beat Penn State 79-63 on Tuesday night. Gary Harris added 13 points and Travis Trice had 12 for the Spartans (12-1, 1-0) in the Big Ten opener for both teams. Dawson keyed a second-half charge to help the Spartans rally from a halftime deficit and win their fifth straight game. "Our halftime wasnt a lot of fun," Izzo said. "What you always hope is that players respond." Did they ever. The Spartans were in total control in the second half, and hit 10 of 20 3-pointers overall to turn this one into a rout. They limited Penn State to 16 points on 5-of-20 shooting in the second half, a sure sign theres a still a huge gap between the programs. "Thats what their team has got to do now, its got to grow," Izzo said. Brandon Taylor had 18 points for the Nittany Lions (9-5, 0-1) and D.J. Newbill scored 17. Newbill had three 3s and 14 points in the first half to keep the upset bid alive. But a second-half shooting funk for the Nittany Lions cost them against the preseason conference favourite. Penn State failed to have an assist in the second half and made only 2 of 9 3-point attempts. "I think we let missing shots dictate our effort," coach Pat Chambers said. "Its unfortunate, because the team I envisioned played in the first half." The Spartans needed Harris to drive the offence and squash Penn States surprising seven-point halftime lead. Harris, the preseason Big Ten player of the year, scored five quick points to open the second half and put the Spartans ahead. But he went to the bench with his third foul only 3 1/2 minutes into the half, leaving the Spartans without their second-leading scorer for a spell. It didnt matter who was in the game for the Spartans, the Nittany Lions kept making 3s as if they were layups. Tim Frazier tied it at 52-all on Penn States eighth 3 (on 14 attempts) -- a stout number after the team missed nine of 11 attempts in the last game against Mount St. Marys. Appling, though, sparked Michigan States long-range game with consecutive 3s for a seven-point lead. Dawson got the job done inside, scoring eight straight points on three layups and two free throws, for a 68-55 lead, all but ending Penn States upset hopes. The Nittany Lions went cold from outside, and Michigan State used 3s and second-chance points off a whopping rebounding edge (45-26). "We all rallied together as a team," Dawson said. Izzo tied Indianas Branch McCracken for fifth place on the Big Ten career wins list with 210. Penn State had its best non-conference record in five seasons and played for 20 minutes like a team capable of kicking off conference play with a shocker. "We know were a good team," Newbill said. "Weve got to become a great team." The Nittany Lions sure were great in the first half, making their 36-per cent 3-point shooting number worthless, hitting one after another to race to a 12-point lead. Newbill made a 3, then followed with a four-point play on the next possession for a 17-9 lead. Taylor hit consecutive 3s for a 25-14 lead that had a small, yet wildly enthusiastic, crowd on their feet. Michigan State appeared to establish its dominance with a 12-0 run to take the lead until Penn State got hot again from 3-point range. Donovan Jack hit PSUs sixth 3 of the half for a 32-29 lead and Newbills third 3 of the half helped the Nittany Lions take a 47-40 lead. The Nittany Lions connected on seven of 12 3-pointers in the half. "They jumped on us," Trice said. "They had a game plan how they wanted to defend us and they executed." Both programs had bigger concerns than the Big Ten opener: No. 4 Michigan State was in Pasadena, Calif., prepping for No. 5 Stanford in the Rose Bowl and the Nittany Lions are in limbo as Bill OBrien decides if he wants to stay loyal to his team or bolt for the NFL. Cheap Fake Vans .The Ottawa Senators winger was relegated to a corner seat in the locker-room to allow Daniel Alfredsson to return to his regular stall one last time. Fake Vans Shoes . Adam Lind provided the power and rookie starter Marcus Stroman had the best start of his young career as the Blue Jays dumped the Yankees 8-3 at Rogers Centre. Stroman, making his fifth start for Toronto, allowed one earned run and three hits over a career-high eight innings. http://www.fakevans.com/.C. - NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick headlines this years electees into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. Fake Vans Slip-on . Earnshaw, 31, most recently spent time on loan in Israel with Maccabi Tel Aviv from Welsh club Cardiff City, which plays in Englands second-tier League Championship. Earnshaw began his career with Cardiff Citys youth program and turned professional in 1998. Fake Vans Outlet .J. - Percy Harvin is ready to go, and theres no question in his mind hell be playing Sunday.TAMPA, Fla. - A scoreless night from star Steven Stamkos was no problem for the surging Tampa Bay Lightning.Cedric Paquette scored his first two NHL goals as the Lightning completed a four-game home sweep by beating the Calgary Flames 5-2 on Thursday night.Tampa Bay also got goals from Brian Boyle, Tyler Johnson and Valtteri Filppula. The Lightning had scored 15 goals during three wins earlier in the homestand against Arizona, Philadelphia and Washington.Its big if Stammers line is not going, somebody else is picking that up, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said.Stamkos was held without a point, finished minus-1, and got both of his shots during a third period in which the centre played just five shifts.Jiri Hudler and Sean Monahan scored for the Flames, who had won three in a row. Mark Giordano had two assists.I felt that the effort was there, Calgary coach Bob Hartley said. I dont think that we looked like a bunch of fat cats out there. Its not a matter that they outworked us. They outsmarted us because we made some bad mistakes, but its a game of mistakes. No one does it on purpose, especially not in this organization.After Paquettes second goal at 61 seconds of the second period, Boyle put Tampa Bay up 3-1 at 4:02 on the rebound after Jonas Hiller stopped the forwards initial shot during a short-handed breakaway.Weve got it going pretty good up and down the lineup, Boyle said. We want to continue that..ddddddddddddMonahans power-play goal 20 seconds after Boyle scored cut the Calgary deficit to 3-2.Johnsons first goal in 12 games made it 4-2 at 40 seconds of the third. The centre had 13 assists over the previous nine games.Filppula added an empty-net goal with 2:10 to play.We were forcing things, especially after they got up, Giordano said. I think we were forcing more than we normally do.Paquette opened the scoring with his first NHL goal from in-close at 9:55 of the first.Its a great moment for me, Paquette said. I think I will remember it for the rest of my life.Hudler tied it at 1-1 when he beat Ben Bishop with 4:38 left in the period.Bishop stopped 29 shots, while Hiller made 28 saves.NOTES: NHL commissioner Gary Bettman attended the game and said the league is keeping our eye on Tampa for future events including the All-Star Game. We know this is a great place to host events, Bettman said. ... Bettman remains upbeat about the establishment of a hockey World Cup and said talks are continuing with the players association. ... Tampa Bay D Victor Hedman had the cast for a broken finger removed but could miss three to four more weeks. ... Calgary D Ladislav Smid was scratched because of an upper body injury but should play this weekend. ... Lightning C Alex Killorn sat out due to an upper body injury. ... Tampa Bay D Andrej Sustr returned after missing one game with a hand injury. ' ' '