SPOKANE, Wash. - For 18 seconds on Saturday, it was happening. Harvard owned basketball, too. The school that churns out U.S. presidents, Supreme Court justices, billionaire CEOs and Nobel Peace Prizes was taking a serious run at altering the discourse on this years NCAA tournament, as well. Harvard guard Laurent Rivard of Saint Bruno, Que., made a 3-pointer from the corner, looped his thumb and finger together around his eye — the "3-point goggles" — and flashed a determined glare toward a group of Crimson fans in the stands who were coming unhinged with 7:12 left in the game. Someone in the Harvard nation tweeted: "rooting for the 1 per cent." The Ivy Leaguers had overcome a 16-point deficit to take a two-point lead over Michigan State, a team that always comes up big on college basketballs biggest stage. The next time down the floor, Spartans guard Travis Trice came back with a 3 to put his team back in the lead. A few minutes later, Michigan State was out of danger — not by much, though — on the way to an 80-73 victory that sent Harvard back home, but not without making a statement. "We showed everybody that we can come all year and play with the best," sophomore guard Siyani Chambers said. Led by a career-high 26 points from Branden Dawson, the fourth-seeded Spartans (28-8) moved onto the Sweet 16 for the 12th time in the last 17 seasons. Theyll play Virginia or Memphis next Friday at Madison Square Garden. A lot of fans thought Harvard could win its first game against Cincinnati. But even President Obama had picked Michigan State to eliminate his law school on the way to the national title. Yet even in a loss, Harvard hoops proved it is here to stay. "I thought our kids competed," coach Tommy Amaker said. "We knew we would." The program Amaker took over seven years ago was in its third straight NCAA tournament and two nights removed from only the second March Madness win in school history. Last year, the encore was a disheartening 23-point loss to Arizona. This time, it was something much different against an opponent that may have been even better. "Thats one thing Coach Amaker talks about, that were not just built for the Ivy League, were built to go past that," junior forward Jonah Travis said. "Thats one of our main goals, to match up with teams like that and beat teams like that." Over a comeback that lasted 7 minutes, 31 seconds, 12th-seeded Harvard (28-5) pounded on Michigan State, plain and simple. The rally started with a pair of 3-pointers by Brandyn Curry and continued relentlessly. The Crimson grabbed almost every loose ball, kept hands in Michigan States flustered faces. Steve Moundou-Missi, the 6-foot-7 forward who was supposed to contain Michigan States 6-10 power player, Adreian Payne, simply outplayed him. When Moundou-Missi tipped in a missed shot with 10:22 left, Harvard trailed only 55-53. At that point, both the chant ringing from the Harvard stands — "I believe that we will win" — and the sign one of the fans was holding — "We always bring our A+ Game" — was more than just good PR. Michigan State called a timeout but Tom Izzos play produced an offensive foul. Moundou-Missi missed a layup, but Wesley Saunders, who led the Crimson with 22 points, scrambled for a loose ball and dunked to tie it. About 90 seconds later, Rivard hit his 3 to put Harvard ahead 62-60. "You look down the other end, and Ive got a good friend thats down there," said Izzo, who goes back more than 20 years with Amaker. "I kept saying, Theyre going to come back. You better realize that." They did. Yet somehow, once the Spartans lost the lead, they started playing better. Harvards lead lasted just 18 seconds. After Trice put the Spartans in the lead, Rivard missed a 25-footer — part of a 2-for-5, seven-point night in which he was shut down by Gary Harris. Payne came back with two free throws and Harris made a 3 of his own, part of an 18-point, five-assist night that complemented his great defence. "It was a scare and we need to give credit to Harvard," Michigan State guard Denzel Valentine said. Payne followed his career-high, 41-point night in the opener against Delaware with a modest 12 points, but the final lesson in this one was all the ways Michigan State can beat you. Dawson had matched his previous career best of 20 by halftime. When he took a pass from Trice for a layup with 1:54 left, he gave the Spartans a 73-67 lead. Harvard pulled within four and Moundou-Missi blocked Keith Applings shot on the other end. But the Spartans won a scramble for the ball and Amaker stomped his foot and shouted "Dammit." The game was pretty much over by then and both teams had proven a point: Harvard can play with anyone and Michigan State can handle a legit challenge. "A wonderful effort by our team," Amaker said. 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PAUL, Minn. -- Zach Parise and the Minnesota Wild kept their chins up and turned what could have been a negative outcome into a positive. Parise and Jason Pominville scored in the shootout, lifting Minnesota to a 2-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night. Parise tied the game late in the third period for Minnesota, which has won five of six and is 8-1-2 in its last 11. The Wild have been involved in three straight shootouts -- winning two. In the shootout, Parise beat Jonathan Bernier low on the left side before Josh Harding stopped Raymond. Mikko Koivu was stopped by Bernier and Phil Kessel lost control of the puck before Pominville beat Bernier through the pads for the win. "We had little bit more of a feeling that this game was there for us if we could keep going," Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said. Parise tied it with 4:17 to play in regulation when, after a turnover by Kessel, Charlie Coyles shot from low on the right side deflected off Parises skate and into the net. The goal came 2 minutes after the Wild managed to get one shot on a 5-minute power-play after Nazem Kadri was assessed a match penalty for hitting Mikael Granlund in the head. "He made initial contact with the shoulder and the kid had his head down, he didnt have his arms up, he ran into the player, Granlund snapped his head back and obviously, the referee saw it differently, and obviously, with a five-minute match penalty, itll be reviewed," said Toronto coach Randy Carlyle. However, Minnesota heard plenty of boos from the crowd as it got off just one shot during the man-advantage. "Even the guys that were power-play guys were coming back saying, Cmon, we still got lots of time, talking, saying the right things and these are the leaders of your team," Yeo said. "Ive been part of many games where you have something like that and frustration creeps in and its real easy to have some type of letdown or start to deviate or get away from staying with it, trusting it, and they didnt." The hit on Granlund was Kadris second action for which he will likely be hearing from the league. Kadri was not made available to the media. Minnesotas starting goaltender, Niklas Backstrom, was run over by Kadri 7 minutes into the game, and lay flat on tthe ice for about 30 seconds before slowly sitting up.dddddddddddd Kadris elbow appeared to hit Backstrom in the head. Yeo said Backstrom has an upper-body injury. Backstrom, starting for the first time since Oct. 28, stayed in the game until a stoppage with 10:31 left in the period before skating to the bench and heading to the dressing room. He had three saves. "Thatll be interesting to see what happens there because it looks like he got him right in the head," Parise said. "Thats what were trying to get rid of. Itll be interesting to see what they decide." Mason Raymond scored a power-play goal for Toronto, which has scored just three regulation goals in its last four outings. Jonathan Bernier had 33 saves. Toronto nearly won it late in overtime, but Harding got a right pad on a tip by Morgan Rielly and then reached back to grab the puck just outside the goal line. "Theyre a good team in their building and at least we came up with one point. Weve just got to move on," Bernier said. Harding had 19 saves in relief of Backstrom. He started the past five games and was to be given the night off due to sickness. Instead, he increased his save percentage to .947, second-best on the NHL, while lowering his league-best goals-against average to 1.21. There wasnt much he could do as Raymond gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead at 7:32 of the second period, when he gathered a loose puck that hit traffic in front and tucked it behind a sprawled Harding. It was just Torontos second power-play goal in 16 chances over six games. Minnesota had two power plays early in the third period, but came no closer than Koivu hitting the crossbar. NOTES: Wild D Ryan Suter has averaged 36:06 of ice time in the last three games. ... Toronto RW Colton Orr returned after missing two games with an undisclosed injury. ... Clayton Stoner was back on the Minnesota blue line after missing Saturdays game with a leg injury. ... Kessel, who played for the University of Minnesota in 2005-06, played his 300th game with the Maple Leafs. He has 129 goals and 143 assists in those contests. ... The Wild played its 500th game at Xcel Energy Center, including regular season and playoffs. ... This was just Torontos fifth game at the arena, fewest all-time among Minnesota opponents. 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