Spartans squeak by Ohio State

Michigan State now in driver's seat atop conference standings

"He got in a few guys' faces at halftime, but he gave me that stare," said Cleaves, who scored 10 of his team-high 16 points in the final 2:09 in lifting the eight-ranked Spartans to a 76-71 victory over 15th-ranked Ohio State.

"When I get that stare, I know it's time for me to pick it up."

Izzo wasn't happy with the Spartans' first-half offense but credited the Buckeyes for that - at least partly.

AP PHOTO Michigan State point guard Mateen Cleaves led the Spartans with 16 points as they beat Ohio State, 76-71, last night. The Spartans have sole possession of first place in the Big Ten standings with a 6-1 record.

"We didn't seem to be getting into our offensive sets in the first half, but Ohio State deserves some credit for that," Izzo said. "They were changing up from a man-to-man to a zone and we didn't handle it well. We were running our man offense against a zone and our zone offense against a man.

"Mateen did a lot of good things out, there but he has to recognize defenses a little better."

Jason Klein and Charlie Bell each finished with 14 points for the Spartans (17-4, 6-1 Big Ten).

Michael Redd had a game-high 20 points for the Buckeyes (15-6, 5-3). Scoonie Penn added 17 points and George Reese a career-high 14.

Klein capped a 9-1 run with the first of his three second-half 3-pointers to give the Spartans a 51-47 lead with 8:36 left. That came during a five-minute stretch in which Michigan State's defense held the Buckeyes without a field goal.

"We had put ourselves in a position to win the game, but Michigan State turned up the defensive intensity more than in the first half," Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien said. "And they did a better job of getting on the glass at the offensive end."

Ohio State, which led 37-33 at halftime, extended the margin to 42-34 with a 3-pointer by Redd early in the second half.

Michigan State went ahead 48-46 - its first lead of the second half - on Bell's tip-in off a missed free throw by A.J. Granger with 10:47 left.

"We do a lot of work in practice on getting the offensive rebound off a missed free throw," Bell said. "My guy didn't box me out so I went around him and had an easy tip-in. We have a lot of great offensive rebounders, so we'll usually get a couple of them a game off missed free throws."

The Buckeyes closed to 72-69 on a 3-pointer by Redd with 9 seconds left before Michigan State free throws sealed the victory.

The Buckeyes jumped to a 6-0 lead and kept ahead for most of the first half, during which the Spartans' only lead 23-22 with 5:38 left.

Antonio Smith pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds for the Spartans.

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