DeAndre Mathieu’s driving layup with seconds remaining tied the game at 71-71 and sent the game into overtime, but the Gophers ultimately fell to No. 5 Michigan State 87-75 at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Mich. The Spartans dominated the five minutes of extra time outscoring Minnesota 16-4 in front of their home crowd. The Gophers dropped to 13-4 on the season and to 2-2 in the Big Ten with the loss. Michigan State played the game without senior center Adrien Payne, but managed to improve to 15-1 and move its conference record to 4-0. Spartans senior guard Keith Appling picked up the slack with Payne out and scored at team-high 24 points while star sophomore guard Gary Harris poured in 19 points. Andre Hollins led the Gophers with 24 points. While the 12-point differential might say otherwise Michigan State had to work for the win in this contest. Minnesota came out firing in the first half on the hot hand of senior guard Malik Smith. Smith nailed three crucial three pointers in the first half and gave his team an emotional boost for much of the first 20 minutes of the game. The Gophers took a 41-36 lead into halftime, but the shots didn’t fall quite as easily after the break. Smith went from hot to lukewarm only splashing two more for beyond the arc. And the rest of the team skipped lukewarm and went straight to cold. Smith finished with 17 points off of the bench but it wasn’t enough. Minnesota showed a lot more fight Saturday than it did in the unimpressive win over Penn State a few nights ago. It will face yet another tough test in five days against No. 3 Ohio State.