Indianapolis - MSU lost to No. 10 Wisconsin, 68-66, in gut-wrenching fashion Saturday in the semifinal round of the Big Ten Tournament. The Spartans had two chances to go up in the last 10 seconds, but came up short on both tries.
MSU (18-11) trailed by two points with 4.8 seconds to go when Wisconsin (23-6) forward Zach Morley missed his second free throw attempt. Sophomore guard Maurice Ager grabbed the rebound, sprinted down the court, stopped about a foot behind the free throw line and shot. The ball bounced off the front of the rim, then the backboard, as time expired. Ager stood, staring at the basket while a mob of Wisconsin players celebrated at the other end of the court.
"It's the second time we've had a chance to win a championship and we lost," Ager said.
The sequence occurred after the Spartans had the ball, down by one point, with about 18 seconds remaining. On that possession, junior guard Kelvin Torbert created space for a jump shot over Morley, but he, too, missed. Morley gathered the rebound and was immediately fouled by Torbert, setting up his two attempts with about four seconds remaining.
MSU has lost all three of its games against Wisconsin this season. The most recent was on March 2 when the Spartans lost, 68-64, in overtime. With that loss, the Spartans missed a chance to clinch a share of the regular season Big Ten Championship.
With Saturday's last-second loss added on to that, junior guard Chris Hill said, "it's so emotionally draining."
The loss eliminated the Spartans from the Big Ten Tournament. MSU now will wait until Sunday evening, when the NCAA Tournament seeds are decided, to find out when it plays next. MSU is not guaranteed a tournament bid, but an at-large bid is likely.
On paper, MSU played one of its best games of the season. The Spartans committed just five turnovers, a season low, and shot 54.2 percent from the field.
Sophomore center Paul Davis led a balanced MSU scoring attack with 16 points. Freshman guard Shannon Brown had 15 and Hill had 11.
Wisconsin was again led by guard Devin Harris, who hit two clutch 3-pointers in the last two minutes. Harris finished with a game-high 21 points.
Wisconsin plays Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament final on Sunday.
