Sparty gets spanked
Right: Ohio State’s freshman center Byron James Mullens hammers home a deuce against Michigan State. (Getty Images)
One thing you can never do is count out a Thad Matta-coached team come tournament time.
For the second straight day, Ohio State came away with an impressive win as the Buckeyes’ knocked off the top-seeded Michigan State Spartans, 82-70, in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Saturday afternoon.
Sure, the victory over Wisconsin on Friday was nice, but the win over the Spartans was even sweeter. The Buckeyes were 0-3 against both teams this season, and Michigan State was hoping to get a No.1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Not any more.
Now the Buckeyes, not the Spartans, will face second-seeded Purdue in the Big Ten tournament championship game on Sunday, as the Boilermakers defeated Illinois 66-56 in the other semifinal contest. Tip-off is slated for 3:30 p.m. ET at Conseco Fieldhouse and it will be televised on CBS.
It was nip and tuck early on as there were three ties and six lead changes, but Jon Diebler’s three-bomb from the right wing with 13:47 left in the first half put Ohio State up for good at 14-12. And it was a lead that they would never relinquish.
The Buckeyes biggest advantage in during the opening period was eight points after Diebler drained a pair of free throws with 6:41 to go that made the score 23-15.
Twice before intermission Michigan State was able to close the gap down to a single point, but Ohio State responded after every Spartan bucket.
With 2:21 left, Michigan State’s Raymar Morgan scored on a layup that trimmed Ohio State’s lead down to 28-27. On the Buckeyes’ next trip down the court, William Buford connected on a 10-foot runner in the lane to push OSU’s advantage up to three.
The Spartans’ scored on their next possession on a power layup down low from center Goran Suton, and the Buckeyes’ answered with a pair of free throws from Byron James Mullens after he was fouled by Delvon Roe with 1:18 on the clock.
After Durrell Summers misfired on a jumper for Michigan State with 48 ticks left, Buford knocked down a 15-foot “J” from the baseline eight seconds later and Ohio State headed into the locker room leading 34-29.
The Buckeyes’ shot an even 50.0 percent (13-of-26) from the field in the first half and were 4-of-9 (44.4%) from beyond the arc as Buford scored 13 points and Diebler chipped in eight during the first 20 minutes of action. Meanwhile, the Spartans’ were 12-of-27 (44.4%) from the field, but were just 1-of-6 from downtown.
Ohio State had a 48-41 advantage with 13:58 remaining in the game then went on a 10-1 run from that point fueled on a conventional three-point play by Mullens, a deep triple from Jeremie Simmons, a runner in the lane by Turner, plus two charity-stripe tosses from Mullens and the Buckeyes led 58-42 with 9:29 left and never looked back, holding a least a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
Michigan State got as close as 68-58 with 4:33 remaining after a pair of foul shots by Korie Lucious, then the Spartans’ starting fouling and the Buckeyes’ converted their free throws, going 9-of-12 from the line in the longest four minutes of basketball that I have witnessed in a long while.
Turner ended up scoring all 18 of his points in the second half for the Buckeyes, while Buford tallied 13 of his 14 points in the first stanza. Also in double figures was Diebler, who added 17 points on 5-of-10 shooing from three-point land, and Mullens came off the bench to chip in a dozen. Turner also had a team-high 10 rebounds.
Kalin Lucas led the Spartans with 17 points.
Overall, Ohio State shot 53.2 percent (25-of-47) from the floor, while holding Michigan State to 38.0 percent (27-of-71).
Once again, though, the Buckeyes were outrebounded (39-33) and surrendered way too many offensive boards (20), but it didn’t bite them in the ass this time.
Ohio State also coughed up the orange sphere 15 times and Michigan State had only 10 miscues.
Of course the Spartans couldn’t connect at all from 20 feet, 9 inches, hitting just three of their 21 attempts (14.3%) from beyond the arc. The Buckeyes were 9-of-16 (56.3%).
In the other semifinal game, JaJuan Johnson scored 20 points and Robbie Hummel added 19 as Purdue took care of Illinois.
