COLUMBUS, Ohio — Michigan State’s spiral continued on Thursday night as Ohio State was the latest team to light up the scoreboard and roll to an easy victory over the Spartans.
The Buckeyes, who entered the game with back-to-back losses and were without two key parts of their playing rotation, scored the first 13 points of the game, weathered a quick rebound in the first half and pulled away in the second half for an 80-69 victory at Value City Arena.
It was the seventh loss in nine games for Michigan State (19-11, 10-9 Big Ten) as it limps into the regular-season finale at home Sunday against Maryland, its status as an NCAA Tournament team growing more tenuous by the game.
The Spartans’ defense, once again, was a punching bag for the opponent as Ohio State made nine 3-pointers, including eight in the first half as it overcame the loss of forwards Zed Key and Kyle Young, who were out with injuries. It mattered little as four players scored in double digits, including Joey Brunk.
The graduate transfer who has played at Butler and Indiana entered the game with 32 points the entire season. On Thursday, he was nearly unstoppable, scoring 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting.
But Brunk’s play was just one aspect of Ohio State’s domination. Freshman Malaki Branham scored 22 on 9-for-16 shooting while E.J. Liddell added 19 points and seven rebounds with Jamari Wheeler scoring 16 for the Buckeyes (19-9, 12-7).
Gabe Brown scored 13 for Michigan State while Marcus Bingham Jr. added 11 points for the Spartans, who turned the ball over 13 times, leading to 20 Ohio State points.
Once again, Michigan State put itself in a hole early in the game. In this case, the Spartans dug a massive hole less than three minutes into the game as Ohio State scored the first 13 points of the game, making seven of its first eight shots and hitting its first four from 3-point range.
The lead grew to 14 before Michigan State started to make a comeback, getting two 3-pointers from Brown, the second pulling the Spartans within 27-25 with 8:10 to play in the first half. After a timeout, however, the Buckeyes responded as Michigan State missed its next four shots and turned the ball over twice. Meanwhile, Ohio State scored nine in a row and used a 14-5 run to once again secure control of the game.
Two late 3-pointers from Bingham kept it from getting out of hand as Ohio State took a 43-33 lead to the halftime locker room. The Buckeyes finished 8-for-13 from 3-point range in the opening half.
The second half didn’t go much better for the Spartans as they were unable to put together enough stops to mount any sort of comeback.
Brunk continued to have his way with the Michigan State defense as the Ohio State lead grew to 15 midway through the second half. The Spartans managed to get within 10 at 66-56 on a Brown 3-pointer, but Ohio State quickly took control from there, cruising over the final six minutes.
