BLOOMINGTON, Ind. _ It felt like Purdue all over again. Until Cassius Winston awoke from his slumber.
It just wasn't enough for No. 9 Michigan State basketball to complete the comeback, and the end result remained the same: another Big Ten road loss.
Winston drove and tried to lob a pass to Xavier Tillman with about 4 seconds to play Thursday night at Indiana. The ball got deflected off the backboard, Tillman got off a great look, but it rolled off the rim for a 67-63 loss to the Hoosiers, their third straight win over MSU.
Winston, who missed his first four shots against the Hoosiers and 10 straight 3-point attempts over three games, hit a couple tough shots late in the first half, then dialed in from deep in the second half to help the Spartans rally back from a 15-point first half hole.
The All-American point guard finished with 13 of his 17 points in the second half and made 5 of 11 shots with five assists. In his previous two games, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound senior scored just 16 points on 7 of 25 shooting � missing all eight of his 3-point tries � and committed 14 turnovers with nine assists.
Tillman finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for the Spartans, who had won nine of 10 entering Assembly Hall. Aaron Henry added 12 points, and Gabe Brown scored 10 as MSU shot 44.9% but couldn't overcome a poor start.
The Spartans (14-5, 6-2 Big Ten) travels directly to Minneapolis, where it faces Minnesota at 3 p.m. Sunday at Williams Arena (Fox).
Joey Brunk had 14 points and six rebounds for Indiana (15-4, 5-3), while Trayce Jackson-Davis added 12 points and Aljami Durham had 11, including a pair of critical 3-pointers. The Hoosiers, who shot 45.6%, outrebounded the Spartans 31-29.
It was a weird first half, with the Spartans' offense mired in shooting woes as the Hoosiers came out sizzling.
Indiana made 11 of its first 19 shots, building a 25-10 lead just past the midpoint of the half. MSU was 4 of 15 at that point, missing its first eight 3-point attempts.
But MSU heated up quickly, with Tillman hitting a long jumper, Winston adding another for his first bucket after missing his first four shots. Henry hit back-to-back 3-pointers, and Winston converted a leaner through contact. The 14-2 Spartan run cut it to a 27-24 deficit and forced Indiana coach Archie Miller to call timeout with 4:44 left before halftime.
But after a three-point play by the Hoosiers' Armaan Franklin, Winston went to the bench with 3:46 left in the half and didn't return until there were 47.5 seconds to go. Marcus Bingham hit a 3-pointer with about 23 seconds left, but Indiana's Aljami Durham matched it at the buzzer to send MSU to the locker room trailing, 37-30.
Brown opened the second half with a 3-pointer, a sign of things to come for the Spartans. The sophomore swingman drained another, then Winston buried three straight � making it five shots in a row after his sluggish start.
Indiana's defense lost Malik Hall, and the wide-open freshman drove for an uncontested dunk to tie the game. His classmate Watts then gave MSU its first lead, his crossover, step-back triple from the top of the key making it 51-48 with 11:04 to play.
From there, things went back and forth as the two teams traded the lead down the stretch. No team led by more than two points until Durham's 3-pointer with 1:49 to play gave the Hoosiers a 63-60 lead and ignited the Assembly Hall faithful.
Tillman swooped for a layup then got a blocked shot at the other end, but Brunk got it and made a layup before the shot clock expired to put Indiana up again by three.
Winston got knocked to the floor while driving for a layup attempt, laying on the ground for an extra few seconds before being helped to his feet. He missed his first free-throw attempt, the fatigue setting in. He made the second, then Tillman and Hall got a deflection and steal on an entry pass and gave MSU one final chance that went awry.
