Wednesday, February 16, 2000
Michigan St. 83, Ohio St. 72
Spartans are alone in first in the Big Ten
The Associated Press
EAST LANSING, Mich. — It made perfect sense to Mateen Cleaves: Michigan State's quest for a three-peat might benefit from more 3-pointers.
It's catchy. Three with 3s.
Cleaves drained three of sixth-ranked Michigan State's eight 3s and the Spartans took over sole possession of first place in the Big Ten with an 83-72 payback win over No. 7 Ohio State on Tuesday night.
“That gives us another weapon,” said Cleaves, who stays after practice to shoot treys up to 40 minutes each night. “I think a lot of teams have been playing me to pass. So, I think it's important that I go out there and knock a few shots down.”
Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien, who was ejected 51/2 minutes into the second half, said the Buckeyes would rather have Cleaves firing from long range than driving the lane.
“Because, not only does he get in and create contact and make baskets, but he gets everybody else involved,” O'Brien said. “So, you have to give something up, and tonight he made a few baskets.”
O'Brien felt it was a costly defeat, even though the Buckeyes are still in the hunt for the conference title.
“They (the Spartans) still have some tough games. So do we,” O'Brien said. “It all depends on how everybody plays.”
The Spartans (19-6, 9-2) hit 7-of-9 3-pointers while rolling to a 44-33 halftime lead. They finished 8-for-20 for the game. Ohio State (17-5, 8-3), which fell into a tie with Indiana and Purdue, never got closer than seven points in the second half.
Still, it wasn't for lack of trying.
Scoonie Penn knocked down 5-of-10 from 3-point range on his way to 30 points. That was a season-high and matched Penn's career high. Michael Redd added 18 points for the Buckeyes.
“We have to give Ohio State a lot of credit,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “Scoonie and Michael came back and hit some big shots, and it seemed like we could put it away but we just couldn't put it away.”
Morris Peterson scored 26 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double. Cleaves finished with 24 points and Charlie Bell added 23 for the tenacious Spartans, who forced 14 turnovers and came up with eight steals.
“This is definitely going to stand out,” said Peterson, who scored 20 points in a 78-67 loss at Columbus, Ohio, on Jan. 20. “Years from now, when I'm done playing, I'll still enjoy this one.”
This was the 25th straight win at home for the Spartans.
“Nobody had to tell us this was an important game,” Bell said. “We were trying to protect home floor, and this was for first place in the Big Ten. I don't think you need too much more motivation than that.”
The importance of this game was apparent from the opening tip. Both teams made it to the Final Four last season and played like a No. 1 seed in this season's tournament might be at stake, even though O'Brien denied it.
“We're not concerned with a No. 1 seed,” O'Brien said. “We're still trying to get into the (NCAA) tournament. I don't know how anybody else feels, but I don't think we're a lock for the tournament by any means.”
O'Brien was ejected by referee Tom O'Neill after picking up his second technical foul. Assistant Rick Boyages ran the bench the rest of the way.
“First of all, I did not like the way I was being treated by O'Neill,” O'Brien said. “There were no obscenities. He just called a technical on me from across the way.
“On the second one, I was trying to get his attention and he just refused to acknowledge me. He just kept walking away. I tapped him on the shoulder.”
O'Neill said coaches are supposed to stay in the huddle during timeouts.
“I think Jimmy getting ejected was, believe it or not, disappointing,” Izzo said, “because I think he is a class guy and a good guy.”
Penn turned the ball over four times in the first 3:11 and Michigan State used the errors to break to a 9-2 lead. But he had five points as the Buckeyes, after a timeout, went on a 9-0 run.
Two 3-point baskets by Peterson keyed a 17-4 Michigan State burst for a 26-13 lead midway through the half which the Spartans never relinquished.
“Sometimes in games like this, the stars don't play good,” Izzo said. “This night, all the stars played good.”
Ohio State and Michigan State each have four regular-season games remaining. On Saturday, the Spartans host Wisconsin while the Buckeyes travel to No. 10 Indiana.
OHIO ST (72)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Redd 36 7-18 3-3 0-5 3 0 18
Reese 34 5-10 0-0 1-3 0 4 10
Johnson 34 2-6 1-1 3-8 0 4 5
Penn 38 8-17 9-10 0-3 7 2 30
Brown 27 4-6 1-1 1-1 1 4 9
Darby 14 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 4 0
Robinson 9 0-0 0-0 1-3 0 2 0
Savovic 1 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 1 0
Ocokoljic 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Dudley 5 0-1 0-2 1-2 0 1 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 26-59 14-18 8-27 11 22 72
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.441, FT-.778. 3-Point Goals:
6-17, .353 (Redd 1-6, Penn 5-10, Brown 0-1). Team
rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 3 (Johnson 3).
Turnovers: 14 (Penn 5, Brown 3, Redd 3, Dudley,
Johnson, Savovic). Steals: 10 (Brown 4, Reese 3,
Penn 2, Redd).
MICHIGAN ST (83)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Peterson 33 7-18 9-12 3-11 1 2 26
Granger 31 0-4 0-0 3-9 2 2 0
Hutson 26 2-7 1-5 3-6 1 4 5
Cleaves 36 6-10 9-12 0-0 7 3 24
Bell 30 9-14 4-4 3-6 0 2 23
Thomas 5 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 0 0
Chappell 5 1-2 0-0 1-2 0 1 3
Richardson 11 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 2 0
Anagonye 20 1-1 0-2 1-5 0 2 2
Ballinger 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 26-57 23-35 14-41 12 18 83
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.456, FT-.657. 3-Point Goals:
8-20, .400 (Peterson 3-9, Granger 0-2, Cleaves
3-4, Bell 1-4, Chappell 1-1). Team rebounds: 2.
Blocked shots: 3 (Peterson, Granger, Anagonye).
Turnovers: 15 (Cleaves 6, Peterson 3, Bell 2,
Anagonye, Chappell, Hutson, Richardson). Steals:
8 (Bell 2, Granger 2, Peterson 2, Ballinger,
Cleaves).
__________________________________
Ohio St 33 39 - 72
Michigan St 44 39 - 83
__________________________________
Technical fouls: Ohio St 2 (Bench 2). Michigan
St 1 (Bench). A: 14,659. Officials: Jim Burr,
Tom O'neill, Gene Monje.
Sports Stories
Smith cleared to throw
Smith arrives early to show he's 'serious'
Key players to visit Bengals
Deion offers 'plan' to play for Bengals
Bengals changing uniforms?
Stadium bill up $14.3M
Deion tries to make up for lost time
Fernandez joins pitching prospects
Xavier 95, Duquesne 66
XU's Hamilton signs off for year
Another banner year for Bearcats
