Michigan State pulls off another upset with comeback win over No. 5 Ohio State

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State continued to play its most inspired basketball of the season, with toughness and energy helping to overcome mistakes.

With Aaron Henry in the middle of the Spartans’ late-season revival that just put them back in the hunt for the NCAA Tournament. With a second top-five win in three days.

The junior forward took over at point guard down the stretch, hitting a pair of key free throws and draining a pull-up jumper with 1:06 to play and setting up Joshua Langford for another critical bucket in the final minute to help MSU rally from nine-point second-half deficit to stun No. 5 Ohio State 71-67 on Thursday night at the Breslin Center.

In a slugfest as epic as each two teams’ last games, Malik Hall’s free throws with 2:30 to play gave the Spartans their first lead of the second half. The Buckeyes answered every play MSU made, with E.J. Liddell scoring four free throws — two with 45.2 seconds left after Henry’s shot, and two more with 14.4 ticks to go after Langford’s shot.

That’s when things got even weirder and wilder.

Joey Hauser split a pair of free throws with 12.8 seconds to play. Ohio State’s Duane Washington Jr. drove, but Langford stayed in front of him, forced a miss and got the rebound.

Then Langford made 1 of 2 free throws with 1.4 seconds left. The Buckeyes then threw the ensuing inbound pass the length of the court out of bounds. The Spartans got the ball again under their own hoop, but before they could take it out, OSU coach Chris Holtmann picked up his second technical foul of the game and got ejected.

Langford hit another free throw, and Hall caught the inbound pass to run out the clock and send the MSU bench onto the floor in joy.

The Spartans (13-9, 7-9 Big Ten) travel to Maryland for a 2 p.m. ET game Sunday (CBS). They welcome Indiana on Tuesday, then close the regular season with a pair against No. 3 Michigan: Thursday in Ann Arbor and Sunday in East Lansing.

Henry finished with 18 points on 7 of 11 shooting, adding four rebounds and four assists in 33 minutes after first-half foul trouble. Gabe Brown scored 11, while Langford, Hauser and Marcus Bingham Jr. all added eight apiece. 

Liddell’s 18 points and Washington’s 17 led the Buckeyes (18-6, 12-6). C.J. Walker added 12.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari.