Down 20, Michigan State’s Comeback Falls Short; Oden Scores 19

COLUMBUS, Ohio _ Magic Johnson, Charlie Bell, Mateen Cleaves, Eric Snow all put in a call to Michigan State during the past week at Tom Izzo’s request, leaving Izzo’s current proteges with one message before the biggest game of most of their young careers.

Leave it all on the floor.

And in the second half, the young Spartans battled back from a 20-point halftime deficit and came within a bucket of beating the No. 5 Buckeyes on their home court.

But the Spartans missed three three-point attempts in the final 1:11, allowing Ohio State to escape with a 66-64 victory at Value City Arena on Saturday night.

"We put it all on the floor, and I’m not sure that I’ve ever had a team that left more on the floor," Izzo said.

Spartan guard Drew Neitzel had a stellar night, scoring 24 of his 29 total points in the second half to fuel MSU’s comeback. Neitzel was only 1-of-7 in the first half.

"I have not seen a player catch fire like he did tonight," said Ohio State coach Thad Matta. "It seemed like for a while there, anything that he or (MSU) threw up, went in."

MSU (17-5, 4-3) could have said the same about Ohio State (18-3, 6-1) in the first half. Seven-foot center Greg Oden scored the Buckeyes’ first seven points and the Buckeyes owned the perimeter game for the rest of the half. The Buckeyes hit 6 of their 10 three-point attempts and shot 62.5 percent overall in the first half; MSU shot 9-for-30 from the field.

The teams’ stats were switched in the second half as MSU hit 62.5 percent and Ohio State 23.8 percent.

Down, 65-62, with 1:41 left in the game, MSU had a chance to take the lead when Jamar Butler fouled Neitzel on a three-point attempt. Neitzel hit his first two free throws but missed the third, keeping the Buckeyes ahead by one.

Neitzel would get two more chances to put MSU ahead but missed three-pointers with 1:11 left and 22 seconds remaining in the game.

The Spartans had a final chance with 15 seconds left and attempted to get the ball to Neitzel, who was double-teamed. Neitzel passed to Maurice Joseph at the top of the key, but Joseph’s shot hit the rim as time expired.

Izzo said he chose to go for the winning shot instead of a tying bucket to prevent his tired team from having to play five more minutes. Neitzel was in the game all 40 minutes, Travis Walton played 38 minutes and Morgan 35.

MSU limited Oden to six rebounds and four shots. Although Oden finished with a team-high 19 points, 11 of those points came from free throws and he had no buckets in the second half. The Spartans won the rebounding battle, 31-27.

"Our bigs, I thought were phenomenal," Izzo said. "I thought we did a heck of a job (on Oden). We competed and that makes me proud."

___

(c) 2007, Detroit Free Press.

Visit the Freep, the World Wide Web site of the Detroit Free Press, at http://www.freep.com.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.