Ohio State Falls To Michigan State, 72-58 – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/8/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Post Game Press Conference Audio
Ohio State Head Coach Jim O’Brien
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
March 8, 2003
By RUSTY MILLER
AP Sports Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Chris Hill scored 20 points and Michigan State shot 63 percent from the field to beat Ohio State 72-58 on Saturday.
The Spartans shot 77 percent (20 of 26) on shots inside the arc.
Michigan State (18-11, 10-6), which has won four in a row and 8 of its final 11, will be either a No. 3 or No. 4 seed in next week’s Big Ten tournament in Chicago.
Ohio State (14-13, 7-9) will be the eighth seed and will play Iowa in the opening round. The Buckeyes dropped to 4-4 in Big Ten home games this season.
Paul Davis added 12 points and Kelvin Torbert and Adam Ballinger each had 11 for the Spartans, who used a 9-0 run in the first half and an 8-0 burst in the second to win their 16th of the last 18 games between the teams.
The Buckeyes’ Brent Darby made 10-of-11 free throws and had 20 points in his final home game, with Zach Williams adding 13 and Velimir Radinovic 10.
Ohio State trailed 45-33 after a 20-8 Michigan State run that included a 9-0 surge near the end of the opening half.
The Buckeyes countered with a 10-0 run – Williams scoring the first six points – to pull to within 45-43 with 10:12 left. After the teams traded baskets, the Spartans reeled off the next eight points. Alan Anderson scored on a reverse layup before Aloysius Anagonye dunked off a backdoor, alley-oop pass from Anderson. On consecutive trips down the floor, Ballinger hit a 15-foot jumper and then scored on another reverse layup to make it 55-45 with 5:43 remaining.
Ohio State was scoreless for more than four minutes, missing four shots from the field and the front end of a bonus situation, with a turnover thrown in.
The lead never dropped below seven points again as the Spartans hit their last 10 free throws.
Michigan State, shooting 45 percent from the field for the season, hit 68 percent (15 of 22) in the opening half and 56 percent (9 of 16) in the second for their best shooting performance of the year.
After five ties and six lead changes, the Spartans never trailed again after the 9-0 run late in the first half.
With the game tied at 27 and 2:56 left, Torbert drove through heavy traffic for a layup. Ohio State’s Matt Sylvester missed two free throws before Hill scored on a baseline drive off an assist from Torbert.
Sylvester missed an off-balance shot for the Buckeyes with Hill popping in a 3-pointer from in front of the Ohio State bench.
After a Darby miss, Jason Andreas scored inside off an assist pass from Ballinger to make it 36-27.
