Thanks to a slippery floor and sophomore guard Tim Bograkos' hand, the Spartans survived a possible embarrassment Thursday night, winning 56-55 over Nike Elite.
After sophomore guard Alan Anderson missed a free throw that would have given MSU a two point cushion, Nike Elite had the ball for the last shot left. But Nike Elite point guard Dave Ferguson slipped and the ball skipped away.
Nike Elite did recover and called a timeout with 0.6 seconds on the clock. A last ditch effort for a touch shot was batted down by Bograkos as MSU eked out the win. With the win MSU improved to 1-1 in its exhibition season. Team Nike fell to 0-6 in their college tour.
MSU outshot Nike Elite from the field, 43.6 percent to 32.7, percent recorded more rebounds 40 to 32, and had more points in the paint 40 to 32. The only big blemish on the Spartan stat sheet was the number of turnovers - a whopping 21.
"We've got a long, long way to go," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. "Twenty-one turnovers is a joke.
"I don't know whether to be disappointed, frustrated or mad, but I'm probably a little bit of each. We are just not a good basketball team right now."
The Spartans dodged another injury bullet when sophomore guard Chris Hill slipped on some water. Hill laid on the floor for a couple of minutes before slowly getting to his feet. Izzo believes Hill may have a hip flexor, which will only keep him out a couple of days.
MSU was led by senior forward Adam Ballinger, who recorded a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Sophomore guard Alan Anderson chipped in 13 points while senior forward Aloysius Anagonye and junior forward Jason Andreas added eight apiece.
Hill, who Izzo has called MSU's best shooter, struggled tremendously from the field. Hill only scored six points on 2-for-13 shooting, 2-for-9 behind the three point line.
"It was a strange game," Nike Elite head coach Glenn Sergent said.
"Our guys played their butts off and we gave Tom what he needed - a real tough ball game."
Out of the gate, Ballinger took charge on the floor. Thanks to a pair of his layups, MSU jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead forcing a Nike Elite timeout.
Following forward Casey Frank's jumper to make it 8-4, the Spartans offense got hot. MSU went on a 9-0 run capped off by an Andreas reverse layup to take a 17-4 lead. The 13-point cushion was MSU's biggest of the evening.
Nike Elite fought back with an 9-0 run of its own to get back within four at 17-13. The teams traded hoops before Andreas dropped in a pump fake layup followed by an Anagonye turnaround in the lane to send MSU into the locker room up 31-22.
But MSU allowed Nike Elite to get back into the game. Despite having their biggest lead of the contest at 43-27 with just over 16 minutes MSU's offense hit the wall.
Nike Elite pulled within eight at 54-46 with just over three minutes to play and finished the game on an 11-2 run, just short of the win.
"We had a couple of times where we got the lead up to 15, and we just couldn't finish it out," Ballinger said. "It almost killed us.
"We've got to start finishing games and stop having these lulls."
