Spartans beat OSU 71-67, improve NCAA resume
EAST LANSING, MICH. » Tom Izzo walked into the locker room with fists in the air and an ear-to-ear grin on his face, welcoming water getting doused on him by Michigan State’s players celebrating what clearly was not just another win.
Aaron Henry had 18 points to help the Spartans improve their chances of making the NCAA Tournament with a 71-67 win over No. 4 Ohio State on Thursday night, two days after Izzo’s team beat No. 5 Illinois by nine points.
The Hall of Fame coach led Michigan State to the national championship in 2000, early in a string of 22 straight NCAA Tournaments that includes eight trips to the Final Four.
This year, though, it looked as if the Spartans (13-9, 7-9 Big Ten) would not make their usual appearance in the NCAA
Tournament until their recent surge with three straight wins.
And that’s why Izzo had no problem with the postgame celebration.
“There would’ve been
days I would’ve chewed them out for that,” he said.
Michigan State beat topfive teams in consecutive conference games for the first time in program history.
The Spartans rallied from a nine-point, second-half deficit against Ohio State with Gabe Brown finishing with 11 points and Josh Langford making key plays at both ends of the court.
The Buckeyes (18-6, 126) closed the game without coach Chris Holtmann, who was ejected for arguing with officials when he was called for a second technical foul with 1.4 seconds left.
“I’m not going to talk specifically about the officiating,” Holtmann said.
Ohio State’s E.J. Liddell had 18 points on 4 of 13 shooting and Duane Washington scored 17 on 7 of 16 shooting.
“We had trouble finishing around the baskets,” Holtmann said.
C.J. Walker scored 12 points and Justice Sueing added 10 for the Buckeyes.
The Buckeyes went ahead 49-40 midway through the second half, but Henry and Langford would not let them pull away as Michigan State outscored them 15-6 to pull into a 55-all tie with 6:42 left.
Malik Hall made free throws to put the Spartans ahead 64-63 with 2:23 to go. Henry followed with a jumper to give them a three-point lead with 1:08 remaining.
Both teams took turns making free throws until Michigan State’s Joey Hauser missed the first of two free throws.
That gave the Buckeyes the ball with 12.8 seconds left and a chance to tie or win the game in regulation. Washington came up short, defended by Langford, on a layup with about five seconds left to trigger Holtmann’s second technical.