Ohio State Falters Late In 66-60 Loss To No. 15 Michigan State

Ohio State (17-10, 9-7 Big Ten) failed to keep the game close late in the second half, falling to No. 15 Michigan State (22-5, 12-4), 66-60, at the Breslin Events Center in East Lansing, Mich., on Feb. 22.

The Buckeyes left the first half with a lead and, for much of the second half, were able to keep the game close, but late in the final frame they allowed the Spartans to pull away.

It was a slow start for both teams, with Michigan State scoring the first points of the game at 19:24 on a jumper and both teams spending nearly the next three minutes without scoring again. The Spartans ended the drought with a dunk, and senior guard Bruce Thornton scored the first points of the game for the Buckeyes at 16:13 to make it 4-2.

Kur Teng of the Spartans made it a 9-6 game with a three-pointer, and both teams went cold again until Thornton made a layup at 12:02. Nearly a minute later, senior center Christoph Tilly made a jumper in the paint to take the first lead of the game for Ohio State at 11:13.

Thornton extended that lead to five points with a free throw and a three-pointer, and the Buckeyes continued to hold onto the lead when Tilly and Thornton made layups on back-to-back OSU possessions for a 20-14 lead.

Michigan State brought the score within three points multiple times the rest of the half, and Ohio State went into the locker room up 26-23 after Tilly missed a last-second layup.

Thornton started the scoring in the second half with a jumper and sophomore forward Colin White gave the Buckeyes another six-point lead with a three-pointer with 17:50 left in the game. Jeremy Fears Jr. answered with his own shot from beyond the arc, and sophomore guard Taison Chatman made a jumper for a 33-28 lead.

After Chatman’s shot, the Buckeyes went into another scoring drought, which allowed Michigan State to take a 36-33 lead at 14:20. It wasn’t until 13:50 that Ohio State scored again, with sophomore center Ivan Njegovan ending the drought with two free throws.

However, the Buckeyes were able to take the lead back, with Chatman making a three-pointer and Tilly following with a jumper to make it 43-40. Tilly made another layup at 10:12 to take a 45-43 lead, and the Buckeyes had yet another scoring drought that allowed the Spartans to take a 49-45 lead after a 6-0 run.

Senior forward Puff Johnson made two free throws at 7:30, but Michigan State stretched its lead out to six points with 4:51 left in the game on two free throws from Fears. The deficit was stretched to eight points with 3:45 left in the game.

With 2:50 left in the game, Michigan State took its biggest lead of the game, 61-51, on a jumper from Jordan Scott. Ohio State was able to make it a three-point game with 14 seconds left on a fast-break layup from Thornton, but the deficit was too large to overcome.

Thornton led Ohio State with 32 points in the game on 12-of-22 shooting, while only Tilly joined him with double-digit points with 10. Tilly also had a team-high eight rebounds.

Carson Cooper led Michigan State with 20 points on an efficient 7-of-10 shooting with a game-high 11 rebounds.