EAST LANSING – “The Book” was open. Until it closed on Xavier Booker.
It will be a decision by Tom Izzo that will be questioned by Michigan State basketball fans for a long time.
When Booker went to the bench in the second half of his first collegiate start with 15:10 to play, the Spartans led Ohio State by 10 points. He didn’t play again, and the Buckeyes erased it all. Dale Bonner drained a 3-pointer with 0.2 seconds to play, handing MSU a stunning 60-57 loss Sunday at Breslin Center.
The Spartans led by 12 points with 11:05 to play. They would score just seven points the rest of the game, with the Buckeyes closing with a 22-7 eruption as Izzo turned first to Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler and then rolled with Mady Sissoko for the final 7:43.
Tyson Walker’s layup kept MSU (17-11, 9-8 Big Ten) in front 56-53 with 1:36 to play. But OSU’s Bruce Thornton hit a pair of free throws with 11.9 seconds remaining after getting fouled by A.J. Hoggard on a layup attempt to give the Buckeyes their first lead.
Walker drew a foul on Thornton at the other end, but his first free throw clanged off the rim and stuck between it and the backboard. He made the second to tie it again with 6.4 seconds left.
But Thornton caught the inbound pass, dribbled to near midcourt, then lobbed a pass to Bonner in the left corner. He shook Walker’s defense and drained a prayer as the horn sounded, sending the OSU bench tumbling onto the court in celebration and leaving the MSU supporters in shock.
A review showed there were 0.2 seconds left, and the Spartans could not get off a shot.
It was the first conference road win for Ohio State (16-12, 6-11), which lost its first eight, and the second victory in three games for interim coach Jake Diebler.
Malik Hall scored 15 points with seven rebounds, while Walker had 12 points on just 5-for-15 shooting. Hoggard scored nine points with four assists.
Booker played 17:15 in his first collegiate start, scoring seven points with three rebounds and three blocks – and leaving a massive question about what happens next. Sissoko had six rebounds and four points in 15:54, Cooper went scoreless and without a rebound in 7:03, while Kohler had two points and three boards in 11:38.
Roddy Gayle Jr. had 12 points and eight rebounds for the Buckeyes, who played without Jamison Battle (ankle). Thornton had 11 points and Felix Okpara had 10 points and six boards. MSU got outrebounded in the second half, 20-14, and 39-33 for the game. Ohio State scored 22 of its 34 points in the paint during the second half.
It was the Spartans’ second straight home loss, the fourth of the season, and the first time MSU lost at Breslin to the Buckeyes since 2012.
The Spartans are off until Saturday, when they travel to Mackey Arena to face No. 3 Purdue. Tipoff is 8 p.m. in West Lafayette, Indiana (Fox).
The Boilermakers (25-3, 14-3), who won 84-76 at Michigan on Sunday, will be the third straight single-play opponent for the Spartans. MSU lost at home Tuesday to Iowa, 78-71, in their lone regular-season meeting this season.
Strong start for Booker
About an hour before the game, Izzo confirmed on his pregame radio show that Booker would make his first career start, taking the place of senior Mady Sissoko, who had started the past 21 games and 24 this season.
The 6-foot-11, now 236-pound freshman from Indianapolis, Indiana, averaged 8.1 minutes while playing 19 of the Spartans’ first 27 games. And after winning the tip, Booker got an extended first look – the first media timeout did not come until 5:26 into the game, and Izzo left his rookie out the whole time to get his feet wet.
Booker did his most damage with Sissoko waiting at the scorer’s table and play continuing for about 3½ minutes without a stoppage. Though he got pulled out of position a few times, Booker used his long wingspan to block a pair of shots. He also wasn’t shy to shoot when given an opening, hitting a 3-pointer at the 14-minute mark that put MSU up, 13-8.
Meantime, the Spartans’ new-look offense flowed well early. Hall and Hoggard scored the first 10 points, each setting up the other for a 3-pointer from the same spot in the right corner.
Sissoko and Carson Cooper rotated in together, but the sophomore got two fouls in 2:29 of court time. Izzo then brought in Jaxon Kohler, and Booker got his second shift for the final 5:59 of the half. Kohler hit a tough step-back jumper in the paint over OSU’s Okpara and had two rebounds in his 7:04 of playing time.
Booker also showed his hands by grabbing a loose ball Jaden Akins lost on a drive and turning it into a layup for five points and two rebounds in 12:25 of first-half play.
Defensively, MSU looked elite, limiting the Buckeyes to 7-for-29 shooting and 1-for-10 from 3-point range in the first 20 minutes. Thornton and Gayle were a combined 4-for-12 for 13 points. The Spartans also dominated on the glass, 32-22, with Hall grabbing five with his nine points before picking up two fouls.
Walker was held scoreless until his 3-pointer with inside a minute to play. Then with time winding down, he got the ball back and drove for a layup at the buzzer to send MSU into the locker room leading, 32-22.
Where did Booker go?
The second half began with another long run for Booker, 4:50 before a media stoppage. And he continued to show his potential and tantalizing talents – in one stretch grabbing a defensive rebound, blocking a shot the next time down, then flushing an alley-oop dunk from Hoggard’s lob.
The Buckeyes wouldn’t go away, with a 3-pointer by Bonner and a post-up layup by Devin Royal over Hoggard. What had been an 11-point Spartan lead quickly got pared to six.
Sissoko, however, showed he still provides value for his team with a tough-angle layup off the glass off a Hoggard feed. Then Tre Holloman snagged a loose-ball rebound and took off in transition, hitting Hoggard for a step-through layup that forced Diebler to call timeout.
Out of that, Holloman again delivered a steal in the paint and took off running. Freshman Coen Carr collected the bounce pass and elevated through traffic for a thunderous dunk that pushed the Spartans’ lead back to 12.
That still wasn’t enough to put away the Buckeyes, whose former coach Chris Holtmann was fired earlier this month.
Okpara threw down a violent dunk over both Cooper and Kohler, sparking a 13-2 run that included a three-point play by Zed Key. Okpara capped it with a hook shot that sliced MSU’s lead to 52-51 with just over six minutes to play and forced Izzo to use a timeout.
Hall delivered a turn-around, step-back jumper from the left side to stop the bleeding. But both teams went into a scoring funk for the next 3½minutes. A Hall turnover led to a runout for the Buckeyes, with Walker fouling and Gayle hitting two free throws to make it a one-point MSU lead.
At the other end, Walker again attacked off the dribble, contorting his body through the trees to deliver a layup with 1:36 to play that pushed it back to a three-point game. But Royal converted a layup after an OSU timeout.
Then at the other end, Hoggard could not convert on a drive. Sissoko grabbed an offensive board but had it stripped by Bonner. Sissoko also committed a foul with 18.5 ticks remaining.
Booker sat watching it all unravel from the bench.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State collapses in second half, loses 60-57 to Ohio State
