Spartans snap OSU’S 3-game streak on senior day
EAST LANSING, MICH. — Death, taxes and Michigan State winning on senior day.
A season of disappointment finally yielded some results in the final week of the regular season for Ohio State, which entered the Breslin Center on Sunday seeking a third straight win to close the regular season. Doing so would require not just beating a team that dominated the Buckeyes at Value City Arena only 20 days ago, but finding the type of success not seen for more than a decade.
Michigan State, which started four seniors to Ohio State’s four freshmen, hadn’t lost on senior day since 2011.
If there was an argument to be made for fate siding with the Buckeyes, it laid with the date on the calendar. Michigan State had won 10 straight senior days, with the lass loss coming thanks to a last-second William Buford jumper exactly 11 years to the date.
Buford wasn’t walking through that door, though. And this year’s Buckeyes, as has often been the case, fought throughout and threatened to make it interesting throughout the second half before closing the regular season with an 84-78 loss.
Bruce Thornton’s 3-pointer with 5:40 to play got Ohio State (13-18, 5-15 Big Ten) within one possession for the first time since Michigan State (19-11, 11-8) led 7-4 in the opening minutes of the game. The Spartans called timeout, drew up a play and got the ball into the hands of A.J. Hoggard.
Matched up with Ohio
State’s Isaac Likekele on the left wing, Hoggard dribbled down the shot clock, got an edge on the Ohio State fifthyear senior, beat a close-out attempt from Sean Mcneil and finished at the rim to push the lead back to five points with 5:04 to play.
It was the final blow needed to keep Ohio State at bay and the kind of sequence that has continually sunk the Buckeyes this season. After consecutive empty offensive possessions, Hoggard drew a blocking foul on Likekele, hit both sides of the oneand-one free throws and the Michigan State lead was back up to 71-64.
And with 5.9 seconds left, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo was able to sub out his seniors for a traditional center court kiss of the Spartans logo.
Hoggard led all scorers with 23 points.
Ohio State has now lost nine straight games in the Breslin Center since Buford’s shot. The Buckeyes will open Big Ten tournament play Wednesday at Chicago’s United Center as the No. 13 seed.
Ohio State finishes the year 1-9 in Big Ten road games, the first time it’s won just once away from home in conference play since the 1997-98 season. Michigan State has now won 11 straight senior days, three of them against Ohio State.
With a 3-pointer 44 seconds into the second half, Brice Sensabaugh became the sixth Ohio State freshman to reach the 500-point mark. The others: D’angelo Russell, Michael Redd, Jared Sullinger, Kosta Koufos and Greg Oden.