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CHAMAPIGN, Ill. -- Coming to Illinois on Saturday, a long list of milestones were on the line for Michigan State. Best start in team history. A chance for Tom Izzo to move up the ladder of Big Ten coaching wins. And, oh yeah, the top spot in the conference standings to protect. The Spartans (17-1, 6-0 Big Ten) checked off all those boxes, holding off Illinois in a sometimes frustrating, physical contest, 78-62. Izzo, who moved past Illinois Lou Henson and into the No. 4 spot on the list of all-time Big Ten wins with 215, called the victory a sign of progress. "Were getting there," he said. "Were gutting things out. Were better defensively than we were a month ago, were better rebounding than we were a month ago." No Spartans team before this one started with 17 wins in its first 18 games. The shot at that served as motivation, said Denzel Valentine, who had a game-high 11 rebounds and 15 points. "We kept saying, Lets make history," he said. While Michigan State won its 10th straight, Illinois (13-6, 2-4) has now lost four in a row. The frustration was apparent during several loud exchanges between coach John Groce and officials. The last one earned him a technical foul. But Groce said Michigan State was just better. "Todays issue wasnt fight; todays issue was we ran into a really, really good basketball team," he said. Izzo said he talked with Henson, who was at the State Farm Center, before the game, but downplayed moving into the No. 4 spot. Bob Knight holds the No. 1 spot with 353. "Its nice," Izzo said. "Im going to call Bob and make sure he realizes theres no worries. Nobodys catching him." Michigan State owned the boards early against the Illini, outrebounding them 24-10 over the first 20 minutes. The Spartans used that edge to open up a 10-point lead by halftime and held the Illini at arms length the rest of the night. Gary Harris had a game-high 23 points and Keith Appling added 15 for the Spartans. Tracy Abrams led Illinois with 15 points. Illinois closed to within six at 59-53 with 6:11 in the game on a pair of free throws by Abrams. But almost as quick as those shots sparked a little hope for Illinois, Appling snuffed it out with a long 3-pointer from the top of the arc. "For whatever reason, we fell down in the zone," Groce said. "Appling made a big shot." Michigan was up 62-53 with 5:43 to play, and with the Illini shooting a tepid 37.7 per cent and unable to drum up many second chances, Michigan was comfortably out front. The Spartans played without 6-10 centre Adreian Payne, out for a third consecutive game with an ankle injury. But against an Illinois team with little inside presence, they didnt seem to need him. "We learned to play without him," Harris said. "Some other guys stepped up. Were building a deeper team." Michigan State outrebounded Illinois 38-25. Valentine was at times dominant, particularly in the first half. He had nine rebounds by halftime and held Rice to 12 points. Rice entered as the conferences second-leading scorer, averaging 17.7 points a game. The Spartans also made the most of their shots, sinking 55.8 per cent of them. Illini big men Nnanna Egwu and Maverick Morgan had a combined five rebounds and four points. Egwu hasnt scored in his past two games in spite of starting both and playing 55 minutes. Groces frustration has been growing with the losing streak. After Wednesdays loss to Purdue he charged toward officials to complain about calls. Early in the first half Saturday night, he shouted across the court at his own team after a miss, "I didnt want that!" He then turned and slammed his fist into the scorers table in front of the Illinois radio crew. Late in the game, after several confrontations with officials, he threw his suit jacket and was called for a technical foul. Groce declined to discuss his exchanges with officials or their calls, but both he and Izzo said they believe there are problems with how rule changes designed to increase scoring are being called. "In my opinion, its completely different than maybe what I saw on the (NCAA) video that was sent to me in the fall," Groce said. "I think everybodys confused," Izzo added. "Its hard on everybody." Illinois has a tough road ahead with its next four at No. 11 Ohio State, at Indiana and then at home against No. 14 Iowa and No. 3 Wisconsin. The Spartans play their next two at home, Tuesday against Indiana and Jan. 25 against Michigan. Steve Grogan Womens Jersey . Hes the same player he always was, only now his efforts are being rewarded. The rookie manager has made a habit of heaping praise on others when things are going well, and accepting criticism when they arent. But in the case of Hurtado, its what the coach is NOT saying that may be the secret to a superb run of form. Steve Grogan Patriots Jersey . The third-ranked Buckeyes were down eight points to Notre Dame with less than 2 minutes to play and their offence was nowhere to be found. http://www.patriotsjerseysauthentic.com/Sony-Michel-Super-Bowl-Jersey/ . - Ronda Rousey realizes shes finishing up one of the biggest years for any fighter in the young history of mixed martial arts at UFC 168, and the UFCs bantamweight champion intends to go out on top. Drew Bledsoe Youth Jersey . Webb birdied the 18th hole to take the outright lead, then watched as Choi, who shot a course-record 62 on Saturday to take a share of the third-round lead, pushed a 10-foot putt wide of the hole at 18 to miss the chance for a playoff. Stephon Gilmore Womens Jersey . The 23-year-old restricted free agent appeared in all 48 games last season, finishing second among all Sabres skaters with 15 goals and 34 points.TORONTO - The security budget for next summers Pan Am Games in Toronto was far too low, and arrangements to protect venues and athletes are behind schedule, auditor general Bonnie Lysyk warned Wednesday.Lysyk did a special audit after the opposition parties complained that the Liberal government awarded a contract for the bulk of private security services at the Games to a company that did not have the lowest bid.The governments decision to award the contract to Contemporary Security Canada was fair, even though at $81 million it was $14 million higher than the next lowest bid, concluded Lysyk.The selection processes ... were fair and transparent, complied with government procurement policies and applied lessons learned from other similar sporting events, she wrote.Officials put appropriate emphasis on contractors prior experience with providing security at large-scale events and project management qualifications, added Lysyk.However, we had concerns with the timing of security procurement and the communication of the related expected costs.The auditor said the private security contract was budgeted in 2013 at only $42 million, far lower than the $81 million contract that was awarded.Our only concern was that the budget for security procurement was understated and should have been more accurate, wrote Lysyk. We noted the same understatement of budgets for other, smaller security procurements. Pan Am organizers now estimate security costs at $247.4 million, more than double the original estimate of $121.9 million in Torontos bid for the Games.I wouldnt say it was a deliberate ploy to mislead people, Lysyk told reporters. It really wasnt until there was more information, more work being done on security planning, when they started to appreciate that number was too low.Sport Minister Michael Coteau could not explain why the private security budget for the Games was off so much just a year ago, and said he would not put a firm limit on the security budget because there could be a change in the threat level.What would it look like knowing this government put a hard cap on security and comprised the safety of Ontarians, Coteau asked reporters. If the cost increases because of a (higher) threat level, Im quite comfortable with that.Deputy OPP Commissioner Brad Blair said the threat level was increased last month after a gunman shot and killed a soldier at the Ottawa war memorial before storming Parliament Hill, where he was fatally shot by security.ddddddddddddhe threat level has changed, which means theres a heightened awareness, not only within law enforcement but also with the general public, said Blair. Until we see a specific threat to these games, I would say our planning principles would not change.Arrangements to ensure athletes and officials have secure access to the field-of-play zones at Pan Am venues and to protect the athletes and their equipment are behind schedule, warned Lysyk.With only nine months before the Games begin, TO2015 had only just issued a request for proposals for contract asset protection security services, nor had it completed all procurements for security equipment, she said. TO2015 was supposed to look after the venue of play security, and that hasnt been completed.The opposition parties said they feared security was just one area where the Pan Am Games organizers would blow the budget.Theres a real good chance well be back here in November of next year, after the Games are over, and youre going to see that every piece of the pie involving the Pan Am Games is way over budget, and its the taxpayers of Ontario that are going to have to pay for those overruns, said Progressive Conservative Todd Smith.If theyre messing up so much with respect to the security costs, how much more is out there that we dont know about yet, asked New Democrat Jagmeet Singh.The Toronto security estimate is just a fraction of the nearly $900 million spent on security at the Vancouver Olympics, but officials believe there is a lower risk profile at the Pan Am Games, with far fewer high-profile dignitaries expected to attend.In September, the province had to pump another $74 million into the Games, most of it because of lower than expected sponsorship revenues.The government was criticized for not including the $709 million cost of the athletes village in its original $1.4-billion budget for the Games, which now is expected to top $2.57 billion and could go even higher.It could increase even more depending on future risk and threat assessments and changes in the scope of the Games, said Lysyk.Follow @CPnewsboy on TwitterNote to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version had an incorrect spelling of the last name of Sport Minister Michael Coteau. ' ' '