The Spartans never trailed during the game, but when it came down to the final five seconds, the No. 13 MSU men's basketball team was in trouble.
Up by two, senior center Paul Davis stepped to the free-throw line. He had already missed his previous two attempts. This time, Davis bricked two more, leaving a window of opportunity open for Georgia Tech.
With no timeouts, Yellow Jackets guard Zam Fredrick took the pass off the rebound and rushed down the court. He heaved up a 3-point attempt to win the game, but it bounced off the rim — letting MSU escape with an 88-86 win at Breslin Center.
Davis came into the night perfect in his last three games from the charity stripe.
"I'm don't know what was going on with my free throws," Davis said. "Honestly, I'm not going to worry about it. If we lost, then obviously I would cut myself up even more. It's just one thing I just didn't have it."
Davis got a cut below his left eyebrow late in the game but still remained in play. MSU head coach Tom Izzo expressed displeasure with the way his team played defensively, allowing a young Georgia Tech team to score 86 points in its first big road test of the season.
"There's getting to be a little bit of a concern that we just don't want to guard anybody," Izzo said. "We want to outscore everybody, and that's going to change. It's some of our best players that it's going to change on."
The Spartans (4-2) jumped out to a 10-point lead within the first four minutes, but after that, the Yellow Jackets (2-2) closed the gap to one with less than seven minutes to play in the half. MSU took a 10-point lead into the half.
Davis, who had just three points in the first half — a 3-pointer — came back onto the floor and was on fire.
He started out with a thunderous dunk and then sank shot after shot on his way to scoring 22 points in the game on 10-of-12 shooting.
"You've got to give Paul credit," Izzo said. "He came back in the second half after a not very good first half and he got inside a little more and went to work."
Davis said he and Izzo had a few words before going back onto the court, but it was brief, as both knew what needed to be done.
"I remember coming in before (the half) thinking I needed to step it up," Davis said.
Many of the fans at Breslin Center thought the lead was comfortable enough to head to the exits as MSU found itself up by 9 with less than two minutes to play.
Georgia Tech went on a shooting spree as guard Anthony Morrow hit three consecutive 3-pointers to bring the Yellow Jackets within striking distance. But it was free throws from junior guard Shannon Brown down the stretch that eventually gave MSU enough breathing room to squeak out the victory.
