Buford wins it at the buzzer for OSU

By Bob Baptist

The Columbus Dispatch

EAST LANSING, Mich.

Coach Thad Matta acknowledged that the Big Ten season, and especially the final month of it, had not “gone as well as everybody on the outside thought” it would for the Ohio State men’s basketball team.

Through it all, Matta said, “I’ve seen this team continue to fight. So to see them end it this way, I’m very happy for them.”

What an ending it was Sunday in the Breslin Center.

For the second time in five days, the 10th-ranked Buckeyes won on their last possession. William Buford’s 20-foot shot hit nothing but net with one second left and beat No.5 Michigan State 72-70.

Wednesday night at Northwestern, Jared Sullinger banked in a hook shot with 3.1 seconds left to give the Buckeyes a 75-73 win.

The victories enabled Ohio State (25-6 overall, 13-5 Big Ten) to make up two games on the Spartans (24-7, 13-5) in the final week of the regular season and gain a share of their third consecutive conference championship, and fifth in the past seven seasons under Matta. Michigan also gained a share.

The Buckeyes will have the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten tournament this week and play Friday night against the winner of the Purdue-Nebraska game on Thursday.

Buford, the Buckeyes’ only senior and a scapegoat of some for not rising to the occasion in big games, scored a game-high 25 points, 19 in the second half, when Ohio State erased a nine-point deficit by shooting 58.6 percent and committing only four turnovers.

“When I do bad, they hate me. When I do good, they love me. It is what it is,” Buford said. “It really doesn’t matter to me, to be honest.

Sullinger had 14 points, 10 rebounds and four assists for Ohio State.

Draymond Green led Michigan State with 19 points and 12 rebounds and missed a 30-foot heave at the final horn.