EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Antonio Smith’s basket with 1.7 seconds remaining broke a tie and lifted Michigan State to a 69-67 victory over Iowa in a Big Ten game.
Mateen Cleaves’ driving layup was tipped by the Hawkeyes’ Ryan Bowen, but the ball went to Smith, who laid it in for the winning basket.
Cleaves led the Spartans with 15 points and a career-high 10 assists, while Ray Weathers added 14 points.
Kent McCausland led Iowa with 18 points, all on 3-pointers, while freshman Guy Rucker added a career-high 17 and Andre Woolridge finished with 16.
Iowa (16-7, 7-4 Big Ten) has dropped four straight road games. The victory ended a three-game home losing streak for the Spartans (12-8, 5-6).
The Hawkeyes trailed 42-26 at halftime, but got back into the game on the outside shooting of McCausland and Woolridge and the inside play of Rucker, who had 11 points in the second half.
A 21-6 Iowa run that was capped by a 3-pointer by McCausland with 6:21 remaining, gave the Hawkeyes a 60-58 advantage — their first lead since early in the first half.
Iowa led 67-64 on a three by Woolridge with 3:13 left, but Weathers, who had missed his five previous second-half shots, hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 67-67 with 1:17 left.
Woolridge missed a 3-pointer with 40.1 seconds to go and Bowen was called for a foul on the rebound, giving the Spartans the ball.
A foul called against Iowa’s Darryl Moore on an in-bounds play after a Michigan State timeout turned off the shot clock and gave the Spartans the ball with 11 second to go, which set up Smith’s heroics.
Iowa attempted a long pass to Bowen after Smith’s basket, but he was unable to handle it as time ran out.
Wisconsin 62, Illinois 45
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Sam Okey scored 16 points and Wisconsin held Illinois without a field goal for a 13-minute stretch in the second half as the Badgers beat the 20th-ranked Illini 62-45 Wednesday night at Madison, Wis.
Okey scored eight points in a 21-0 second half run for Wisconsin (14-7, 7-5). The Badgers have won five of their last six games to move into a fifth-place tie in the Big Ten with the Illini (17-7, 7-5).
Illinois was leading 35-31 before its scoring drought. After Kiwane Garris’ basket on their first possession of the second half, the Illini didn’t make another field goal until Garris hit an 18-footer with 6:33 remaining.
By then, Wisconsin led 52-35. The Badgers, who made just 3-of-13 shots from 3-point range in the first half, hit three from beyond the arc during the 21-point run. Sean Daugherty scored eight of his 15 points during that run.
Garris scored 13 points to lead Illinois, which was held to its lowest point total this season.
The Illini shot just 19 percent from the field in the second half (4-of-21). Garris, the Big Ten’s leading scorer with a 20.7 average coming into the game, made just 3-of-16 shots.