Control trouble for MSU men

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Just when Michigan State thought it was over its turnovers ... the Spartans rolled over and coughed up another Big Ten road game.

No. 17 MSU closed the regular season with a fantastic meltdown, blowing a 12-point lead in the second half and going the final 5:51 without a basket in a 63-54 loss to a desperate Ohio State team.

The Spartans (24-7 overall, 12-6 Big Ten) had a season-high 21 turnovers after averaging just 7.6 in their past five games. They did not trail for the game's first 35 minutes, had a 45-35 lead with 12:02 to play - and were outscored 28-9 from there.

"I'm very disappointed in the way we performed in the last 10 minutes of that game," an angry Tom Izzo said afterward. "It's a shame when we played that well for the first 25-30 minutes. I'm not sure if I'm more disappointed in myself, my team or the officiating. The whole thing is frustrating to me."

MSU finishes in fourth place in the Big Ten, four games behind outright champion Wisconsin. Ohio State (19-12, 10-8), which needed the win to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes alive, finishes in fifth.

So the Spartans and Buckeyes will take a few days off and play again, Friday in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals in Indianapolis.

"It'll be great to play them again," said MSU sophomore forward Raymar Morgan, the only Spartan in double figures with 19 points. "We're looking forward to it."

First, the Spartans will look back on another Big Ten road trip gone bad. Senior guard Drew Neitzel struggled - as he has in five of MSU's six league losses this season - hitting two 3-pointers in the first 83 seconds, then going scoreless and 0-for-7 in the final 38 minutes, 37 seconds of the game.

"I just missed them," Neitzel said.

3-6 road mark in league

MSU finished 3-6 in conference road games this season, and is 6-19 over the past three seasons.

Those road woes have received a lot of attention recently, which Izzo called "ridiculous" last week. But the fact is, only one of those road victories came against an NCAA Tournament team - at Ohio State in January 2006.

The others came at Northwestern in 2006, Penn State in 2007, then Northwestern, Minnesota and Illinois this season.

The good news for MSU is, it's all neutral sites from here.

"I don't like to look at it that way," MSU senior center Drew Naymick said. "But obviously we haven't had much success on the road in the last couple years."

MSU, which beat OSU 66-60 at home on Jan. 15, was poised to follow up Thursday's late win at Illinois with another. MSU built a 10-point lead in the first half and led 31-23 at the break.

It rose to 35-23 on a Naymick jumper early in the second. But OSU turned up its defensive pressure, trapping MSU and forcing some giveaways. At other times, the Spartans just gave it away.

"Their defense was a little factor, but we didn't make smart passes," said MSU's Travis Walton, who joined Neitzel and Morgan with three turnovers. "We had the game in our hands and we did a lot of unnecessary things."

Butler (20 points) did it

Jamar Butler led Ohio State with 20 points on his senior day. His free throws gave the Buckeyes the lead for good with 4:46 left - part of a 15-2 run to close the game that included seven Ohio State free throws.

OSU had a 20-6 free-throw advantage. Izzo, who saw his team on the short side of 29-4 and 51-21 disparities in losses at Iowa and Penn State, respectively, was perturbed by the officials this time as well.

"When they started driving and everything was a foul - and I mean that - the game changed," Izzo said.

On the other end, MSU had four shot-clock violations and missed its final six shots. It was an all-around collapse that the Spartans will try to make up for Friday.

"I'm not worried about Friday," Izzo snapped. "I'm worried about today."

Ohio State 63, MSU 54

MICHIGAN STATE (54)

Player M FG FT R A F Pts

Morgan 28 9-13 1-2 6 1 4 19

Suton 29 3-8 0-0 8 1 4 6

Naymick 28 2-3 0-0 6 0 3 4

Lucas 29 1-5 2-2 1 4 2 4

Neitzel 34 2-9 0-0 0 2 1 6

Allen 16 3-4 0-0 0 1 0 9

Walton 20 0-2 0-0 1 1 3 0

Summers 3 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 0

Gray 13 2-3 2-2 7 1 1 6

TEAM 3

Totals 200 22-47 5-6 33 12 18 54

OHIO STATE (63)

Player M FG FT R A F Pts

Terwilliger 22 2-4 0-0 2 2 1 4

Hunter 31 6-9 1-2 4 2 2 13

Butler 40 5-11 8-8 2 4 0 20

Turner 30 1-6 1-2 1 2 3 3

Lighty 37 5-5 1-1 5 1 0 12

Koufos 28 4-8 3-7 3 0 1 11

Diebler 12 0-3 0-0 1 0 1 0

TEAM 2

Totals 200 23-46 14-20 20 11 8 63

3-points goals-MSU 5-12 (Morgan 0-1, Neitzel 2-5, Allen 3-4, Walton 0-1) Ohio State 3-13 (Terwilliger 0-2, Butler 2-6, Turner 0-1, Lighty 1-1, Koufos 0-1, Diebler 0-2). Turnovers-MSU 21, Ohio State 9. Fouled out-None. Halftime score-MSU 31, Ohio State 23. A-19,049.