Three in Double Figures as No. 15 Michigan State Hangs on to Beat Ohio State, 66-60

East Lansing, Mich. – Senior center Carson Cooper scored a career-high 20 points and No. 15 Michigan State came back to take 10-point lead late in the game before hanging on for a 66-60 win over Ohio State on Sunday at the Breslin Center.

Cooper hit 7-of-10 shots from the floor and all six of his free throws while adding a game-high 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season, leading three players in double figures.

Redshirt sophomore guard Jeremy Fears Jr. scored 11 points and handed out eight assists, while freshman Jordan Scott scored 12 points (10 in the second half), grabbed four rebounds and handed out three assists and senior forward Jaxon Kohler scored nine points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

Records
Michigan State improves to 22-5 overall and 12-4 in the Big Ten Conference, while Ohio State falls to 17-10 overall and 9-7 in league play.

Recap

Leading by two, 51-49, later in the second half, Michigan State went on a 10-2 run over 3:30, taking a 61-51 lead on a jumper from Scott with 2:50 play.
Cooper started the run with a jumper to make it 53-49 before six-straight points, a Cooper dunk, a Kohler layup and the jumper from Scott, pushed the lead to double-digits.
Kohler hit a hook shot to push the lead back to 10 points, 63-53, with 1:35 left, but Ohio State responded with a 7-0 run, with Bruce Thornton scoring five points, including a layup with 14 seconds left to cut the lead to 63-60.
Scott hit 1-of-2 free throws with nine seconds left and Cooper hit a pair with 2.8 seconds left to seal the win for the Spartans.
The Spartans trailed by as many as six points in the first half, trailed by three (26-23) at the break and were again down six points, 31-25, after a 3-pointer from Ohio State's Colin White early in the second half.
MSU got back into it with a 9-2 run, capped by free throws from Scott with 15:09 to play, giving MSU a 34-33 lead, its first since early in the first half.
There were three more ties and three more lead changes over the next seven minutes before Fears hit a pair of free throws with 8:37 to play, giving MSU the lead for good.
Michigan State went into the break trailing by three points, 26-23, after hitting just 29.6 percent of its field goals and committing seven turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.
A jumper from Scott and a dunk from Carr had given MSU an early 4-2 lead and the Spartans still led, 9-6, with 13:59 to play.
MSU went scoreless for more than five minutes (5:06) and missed six-straight shots as Ohio State went on an 8-0 run and took a 14-9 lead on a 3-pointer from Thornton at 9:22.
The Buckeyes led the rest of the half, taking an 18-12 lead on a layup from Christoph Tally with 6:59 to play and still led 26-21 with 55 seconds left before Cooper hit free throws with 11 seconds left to cut the lead to 26-23.

Key Stats

Michigan State shot only 40.0 percent from the floor (22-of-55), but hit 50.0 percent in the second half (14-of-28).
The Spartans had a 43-26 advantage on the boards, collected 15 offensive rebounds and scored 16 second-chance points.
MSU hit 72.0 percent of its free throws (18-of-25), 76.5 percent in the second half (13-of-17).
The Spartans committed 10 turnovers but only three in the second half.

Notes

Michigan State leads the all-time series with Ohio State, 82-63, and has won the last two meetings.
- MSU is 50-18 all-time at home against the Buckeyes, including a 23-6 mark at the Breslin Center.
- MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo is now 37-20 all-time against Ohio State.
Izzo's career record is now 759-307 in his 31st year at the helm of the MSU program, including a 372-177 record in the Big Ten.
The win was the 501st all-time win at the Breslin Center for Michigan State.
- The Spartans are now 501-70 all-time at home since the Breslin Center opened in 1989, including a 268-61 mark in Big Ten play.
- Under Head Coach Tom Izzo, the Spartans are 427-63 at the Breslin, including a 228-48 conference record.
MSU is 14-2 at home this season.
The Spartans are 3-2 in February.
MSU trailed at the half (26-23) for the sixth time in the last seven games.
- The Spartans are 6-3 when trailing at the half.
Michigan State scored 66 points, the fifth time this season scoring fewer than 70 points (3-2).
MSU limited Ohio State to 60 points, the 19th time holding an opponent below 70 points (17-2).
Ohio State shot better than Michigan Stater (44.2% to 40.0%), just the sixth time that has happened this season (2-4).
This was just the eighth time MSU shot below 45.0 percent from the floor (4-4).
Michigan State out-rebounded Ohio State (43-26), the 24th time controlling the boards this season (22-2).
Carson Cooper scored a career-high 20 points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
- He has scored in double figures 15 times this year and 19 for his career.
- This was his third double-double this season and the third of his career.
- He has grabbed at least 10 rebounds four time this year and seven for his career.
- This was his fifth game leading the team in scoring this season (fifth career).
Jordan Scott scored 12 points, grabbed four rebounds and had three assists.
- This was his seventh career game in double figures.
- Scott played a career-high 31 minutes.
Jeremy Fears Jr. scored 11 points and handed out a game-high eight assists.
- Fears has scored in double figures in each of the last 15 games.
- He has scored in double figures 21 times this year and 33 for his career.
- Fears has led the team in assists 27 times this year and 49 for his career.
- His eight assists pushed his season total to 249, the fourth-most in a single season in MSU history, alongside Cassius Winston (241, 2017-18) and Denzel Valentine (241, 2015-16) … He broke a tie for fourth place with Cassius Winston (241, 2017-18) and Denzel Valentine (241, 2015-16) and needs 21 more to pass Earvin Johnson (269, 1978-79) for third all-time.
Jaxon Kohler scored nine points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
- He has 13 games with double-figure rebounds this year and 25 for his career.

Up Next
Michigan State plays its next two games on the road, starting with a meeting with Purdue on Thursday, Feb. 26. The game tips off at 8 p.m. and will air live on NBCSN and Peacock.