Cooper, Michigan State outlast Ohio State in 66-60 victory

EAST LANSING, Mich. — At halftime of Michigan State’s Sunday afternoon matinee against Ohio State, renowned performer Red Panda came out on her tall unicycle and flipped bowl after porcelain bowl on top of her head. She nailed every trick, bowing to the crowd when all was said and done as Breslin Center rose to its feet for its loudest ovation to that point in the afternoon.

There wasn’t much to cheer about for Michigan State fans before halftime as the 15th ranked Spartans muddled through another sluggish opening half. But guided by a resurgent performance from center Carson Cooper, Michigan State outlasted undermanned Ohio State 66-60, in its penultimate home game.

Cooper led Michigan State (22-5, 12-4 Big Ten) with a career-high 20 points alongside 11 rebounds while point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. added 11 points and eight assists. Freshman shooting guard Jordan Scott also had 12 points. Despite foul trouble, forward Jaxon Kohler chipped in nine points and 10 rebounds of a 43-26 advantage on the boards. The Spartans outscored Ohio State 16-5 on second-chance points off of 15 offensive rebounds.

For Ohio State (17-10, 9-7), a strong 32-point performance from point guard Bruce Thornton kept his team ahead deep into the second half, but a banged-up roster and foul trouble proved no match for physical Michigan State, though his driving layups aided a 34-26 advantage in the paint.

Early in the second half, that space in the paint came at a premium, with the Michigan State lineup limited in who could pay up. The Spartans went small out of halftime as Kohler sat on the bench with three fouls. Kur Teng drew his spot in the second half starting lineup and shifted Scott to the 3 and Coen Carr to the 4.

Thornton continued to be a thorn in the Spartans’ sides with the opening basket of the half, though more aggressive defense from Fears cooled him down for a brief spell.

Down 26-23 after shooting 8 for 27 in the first half, Michigan State knocked down three of its first eight shots in the second including a 3 from Fears to cut Ohio State’s lead down to 33-32 with 15:09 to play when Scott drew a foul from the 3-point line.

Scott hit the first free throw to tie the game, missed the second and drew the 34-33 lead on the third as Michigan State drew its first lead since the first eight minutes of the game. A stop on the other end put Michigan State in position to capitalize, which freshman Cam Ward did with a dunk off a driving hand-off by Fears underneath the basket.

The Thornton-Fears matchup proved to be the big one in this game. Fears caught his stride in the second half, particularly working with his pick-and-roll partner Cooper. A driving layup around a Cooper screen made it 38-35 before Thornton tied the game with a 3.

Up 40-38 off Cam Ward free throws to cap an 8-0 run, Michigan State put four backups on the court including backup point guard Denham Wojcik eight minutes into the second half, trying to buy some rest for the starters who would need to close out this game. Ohio State turned that into a 43-40 lead when Michigan State shuttled in all five of its starters including Fears, Scott and Kohler with 10:50 to play.

Scott hit a 3 immediately to tie the game — big against an Ohio State team whose zone looks had forced the Spartans to try those shots — then Kohler answered for an Ohio State make with a hook shot.

Attrition started to catch up to an already depleted Buckeyes lineup as Colin White and Amare Bynum each stopped play for apparent injuries on the baseline. Each play was reviewed by officials. On Bynum’s spill, Fears went to the line himself and hit two free throws — interrupted by a technical foul on Ohio State’s Gabe Cupps — to take a 47-45 lead. Cooper made it 49-45 with a second-chance layup at 7:48, making eight points in the half for the senior. He kept the difference at four assisting a Scott layup and shooting his own mid-range with just over six minutes to play.

Thornton drew a foul on Scott leaning into his legs while dribbling to the basket at 4:41 that drew the ire of the crowd because it looked like a travel. There was Cooper, again, with the answer: a two-handed jam off the roll. Kohler got involved to make it 59-51 into a timeout that all but settled things with 3:36 to play and Ohio State out of steam.

Michigan State drew a 10-point, 61-51 lead after a jumper from Scott, though Thornton's free throws got things back to single digits. At the other end, Fears chipped away at the clock to seal the win. Ohio State scored seven straight in the final 1:30, due to sloppy MSU execution. Coen Carr missed free throws with 20.6 seconds to play as Thornton cashed a layup that made it a 63-60 game with 14.3 on the clock. After Scott split free throws at the other end, Cooper hauled in a rebound with 2.8 seconds to play and iced the game.

Thornton scored 11 of Ohio State's 13 points in the final 6:37.

Sixteen points from Thornton led Ohio State to a 26-23 halftime lead, the fifth time in six games Michigan State has trailed at the break. Foul trouble for Kohler and the funky lineups it produced caused the Spartans to stumble for the second worst offensive first half of the season, second only to 21 points at Minnesota.

Such a sluggish start for Michigan State was evident from the start, but Carr jammed home what looked to be the lid-lifter for a 4-0 lead four minutes in. An undermanned Ohio State team, down forward Devin Royal, was stressed further when teammate Amare Bynum sat in foul trouble less than two minutes in.

Problem is, a minute later, Kohler joined him with his own second foul. He played just five minutes in the first half, with five rebounds and a 3-pointer.

Michigan State tried to steal some minutes with backup point guard Denham Wojcik four minutes in, who was healthy enough to play after a shoulder injury Tuesday against UCLA. Ohio State capitalized with the first layups of a busy half for Thornton. A corner 3 from Kur Teng kept Michigan State from trailing, and Fears subbed back in with 13:25 to go in the half.

But Michigan State struggled to pull away. In fact, it lost its lead entirely. A charge on Carr wiped away a hard layup and Thornton scored again at the other end, a four-point swing that made it 9-8 Michigan State with 11:24 to play. And Christoph Tilly made that 10-9 Ohio State on the other side of a timeout.

Ohio State went ahead by as much as five points, 14-9, as a Thornton 3 capped an 8-0 run for the Buckeyes at 9:22. Thornton kept the Buckeyes in front, and they led 18-12 with 6:52 to play in the half.

The Spartans got two good possessions out of third-string shooting guard Trey Fort, who made a series of extra passes to set up Carr free throws and then shot a 3 that Teng tapped in to make it 14-12 with 8:43 to play. But Carr went down hard on a dunk attempt with 7:47 to play and landed on his tailbone, but he got up with help of a trainer and stayed on the bench before returning at 5:27.

So, too, did Kohler return at 5:49 in a decision that proved fateful. He hit a 3 that made it 20-17, but then he fouled Buckeyes forward Colin White at 3:48. And neither Kohler, nor the crowd, nor — especially, head coach Tom Izzo liked it. Down 22-17 in the waning minutes of the first half, Michigan State had a problem on its hands.

White missed both free throws, and Fears hit his own after a reviewed foul call at the shot clock to get back within 3. Carr and Cooper matched two layups for Thornton at the rim and at the foul line for halftime’s 26-23 score.

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