It All Ends for Michigan State

Michigan State arrived at Assembly Hall on Sunday with the No. 1 ranking, an unbeaten record and the nation’s longest win streak, 23 games.

Kirk Haston’s buzzer-beating three-point basket changed all that.

Indiana defeated the Spartans, 59-58, its first victory over a top-ranked team in more than a decade and certainly the biggest victory in the post-Bob Knight era.

“I just put a little extra arch on it and started heading to the other end,” said Haston, who had made only four three-pointers in his career before Sunday. “I looked up at the clock and saw all zeros and that’s when I knew we had a win.”

Or at least he thought the Hoosiers, 10-6 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten, had a win.

Haston immediately was tackled by his teammates, right in front of the Michigan State bench, as students poured onto the floor, a rarity in Bloomington.

But in the midst of the frenzied celebration, the officials opted to review the shot on replay--making sure it was from behind the three-point line and that there was no time remaining. When the discussion ended, the Hoosiers had their first victory over a top-ranked team since 1987 and their first ever at Assembly Hall.

“It’s a big win for us, that goes without saying,” said Haston, who finished with 27 points. “To be the only team to beat this team, and we beat them two times in a row pretty much, and they’re one of the best teams in the country if not the best team in the country, it’s a big win for all the past players here and all the players on the team.”

It was easily the biggest win in Coach Mike Davis’ brief career, one that began in September when Knight was fired.

Davis called a timeout with 8.3 seconds left to design the play he wanted--and he opted for the win.

“I didn’t want to go to overtime,” he said. “If we missed the shot, we missed it.”

It was the first loss for Michigan State (12-1, 1-1) since their last trip to Assembly Hall--Feb. 26, 2000--and it means Stanford probably will move up one spot to No. 1 when the new poll is released today.

In that game, A.J. Guyton had a career-high 34 points, but it was his missed shot--an air-ball--that Lynn Washington caught and put in the basket with a half-second left in overtime to give the No. 16 Hoosiers an 81-79 victory over the No. 5 Spartans. The winning basket was Washington’s only one of the game. Haston had 13 points in the game.

“It’s sad to see the win streak end,” Izzo said. “But it’s good to know that reality is still reality.”

The reality was that the Spartans played an uncharacteristically bad game. The defending national champions finished with 19 turnovers.

They shot only 40% from the field, managed only seven steals and seven assists, and leading scorer Charlie Bell was limited to three baskets and 11 points. Jason Richardson led the Spartans with 15 points.

Most notably absent was Michigan State’s ability to finish. The Spartans missed three of four free throws in the final 29 seconds.

“They gave us a lesson in how to play hard,” Izzo said. “For some reason, we just didn’t come out. Turnover after turnover early in the game hurt us, foul trouble hurt us.

“But I’m happy we lost. You get what you deserve. If we had won, it would have been a false impression of what went on here.”

And that was that Indiana fought all out, even after falling behind, 46-40, midway through the second half.

The Hoosiers responded with a 9-0 run, sparked by another three-pointer by Haston.

Michigan State regained the lead at 55-53 with 4:15 to go and led until Haston’s game-winner from just right of the top of the key.

“I told them remember why we won because we fought the entire game,” Davis said. “There’s no reason not to play like that every night. We beat the No. 1 team in the country. But we’re still 10-6.”