Michigan State University
Ohio St
No. 3 Spartans Fall To Ohio State, 64-55.
1/27/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 27, 2001
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Brian Brown scored a career-high 25 points and Ohio State used a 16-2 run to take command in a 64-55 victory over No. 3 Michigan State on Saturday.
The Spartans (16-2, 5-2), who had won their last four games, would have tied Illinois for the Big Ten lead with a victory.
The upset came six days after defending national champion Michigan State dominated the Buckeyes in the second half to win 71-56 in East Lansing.
Brown went 8-of-13 from the field, 7-of-9 on free throws and also had six assists and five rebounds for Ohio State (13-7, 4-4). Brent Darby added 11 points, including a late 3-pointer after the Spartans had cut the lead to eight with 2 minutes remaining.
Bewildered all day by Ohio State's 2-3 zone, Michigan State never got closer than seven points after the Buckeyes scored the final four points before halftime and 12 of the first 14 points in the second half.
The Spartans' Andre Hutson scored 17 points and Jason Richardson had 11 - all in the first half - before fouling out. The starting backcourt of Charlie Bell and Marcus Taylor combined to hit just 5-of-21 shots from the field and totaled 14 points. Bell was battling the flu.
Ohio State had been outrebounded 36-27 in the previous meeting as the Spartans piled up 20 offensive rebounds. That was without starting center Hutson, who was recovering from pneumonia.
Then, on Wednesday night, Ohio State shot just 25 percent from the field and lost 57-41 at No. 19 Wisconsin.
Michigan State had already weathered an 8-minute span without a point Saturday but was tied at 22 late in the first half.
Brown gave the Buckeyes the lead for good with a pair of free throws and Tim Martin added two more to put the Buckeyes ahead 26-22 at the break.
Four players scored in the 12-2 run at the outset of the second half as Ohio State built a 38-24 lead by the 15:10 mark.
The Buckeyes led by as many as 16 points - on Darby's 3-pointer with 13:52 left - before Michigan State regrouped to cut the lead to eight on three occasions.
Each time Ohio State - in particular, Brown - had an answer: Brown hit two free throws after the Spartans had cut it to 51-43 with just under 4 minutes left, then assisted on Darby's 3-pointer with 1:53 remaining. After Michigan State cut it to 58-51 on Taylor's 3-pointer with 1:13 remaining, Brown hit two more foul shots.
Ohio State's last eight points came at the line, where the Buckeyes went 20-of-28, to Michigan State's 10-of-14.
The Spartans missed nine consecutive shots from the field and had five turnovers in an eight-minute span as Ohio State turned an 11-6 deficit into a 15-11 lead in the first half.
Michigan State hit five of its first six shots from the field, but made 16 of 47 (34 percent) the rest of the way.
At halftime, Ohio State retired the number former national player of the year Gary Bradds. Bradds, who scored 40 or more points in six consecutive Big Ten games during the 1964 season, backed up Jerry Lucas for a year on the 1963 national runner-up before blossoming as a junior. He died of cancer at the age of 40 in 1982.
