Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Michigan State blows double-digit lead, prevails in overtime over Ohio State

Keith Appling

Michigan State and Ohio State sure know how to make us forget about college football.

The two clashed in an epic overtime Big Ten battle, as the No. 5 Michigan State blew a double-digit second half lead, but left the Breslin Center with a 72-68 overtime win over No. 3 Ohio State on Tuesday night to hand the Buckeyes their first loss of the season.

Sam Thompson hit two free throws, followed by one from Adreian Payne to make it 60-59 Ohio State to begin overtime. Then it began to rain threes. Kenny Kaminski and Payne sandwiched a Marc Loving free throw with two Michigan State 3-pointers to give Sparty a 65-61 lead. Again, Ohio State wasn’t going anywhere with an Aaron Craft layup and a Thompson 3-pointer from the wing, tying the score at 66-all.

Keith Appling responded with a pull-up three on the next possession with under 30 seconds to play, giving Michigan State a 69-66 lead, which the Spartans kept for good.

Ohio State fell behind by as many as 17 in the second half, but with less than 10 minutes to go, Thad Matta extended his defense, which forced problems for the Michigan State offense. As the Spartans made mistakes and missed shots -- one field goal in the final eight minutes -- the Buckeyes went on a 20-3 run to close out regulation and had a chance to win it at the buzzer with a transition layup after Shannon Scott picked off a pass.

The Spartans second half letdown that almost caused them the game.That near collapse had something to do with the opponent. Ohio State doesn’t give up. Seriously. We saw that in the win against Notre Dame and we saw that fight again on Tuesday night. How many guys will make plays like Aaron Craft did toward the end the game?

It was a disappointing way to end regulation, but Tuesday night the Spartans showed glimpses -- like in other games -- of what they can be when they are healthy. Gary Harris went off on Indiana, looking like the player we’ve waited to see, and added 13 more points on Tuesday night. Payne (18 points, six rebounds) fought through a foot injury while Appling (20 points, seven assists, six rebounds) dealt cramping. Yet both drilled huge 3-pointers in overtime. Not to mention Tom Izzo was without Travis Trice.

We still have a long way to go until March, which is the next time these two teams meet. The Spartans and Buckeyes end conference play on March 9 in Columbus

Follow @terrence_payne