MADISON, Wis. _ A third outright Big Ten title did not come easy for Tom Izzo.
And after a long few days, neither did Michigan State star Miles Bridges' offense.
It took Cassius Winston making all six of his 3-point shots and a late 11-2 run to deliver a 68-63 victory over Wisconsin on Sunday at Kohl Center that gave the top-ranked Spartans the Big Ten regular-season championship all to themselves.
MSU (28-3, 16-2 Big Ten) claimed its first outright Big Ten regular-season title since 2009 with its 12th straight win.
Winston finished with 20 points, six rebounds and five assists. Fellow sophomore Nick Ward added 14 points and six rebounds while battling foul trouble. Freshman Jaren Jackson Jr. added 11 points and six rebounds.
Meanwhile, Bridges went 3-for-15 (0-for-7 from 3-point range) for 10 points with eight rebounds and three assists. His two free throws with less than 5 seconds left sealed the win, to the chants of "cheater" from the Wisconsin student section. He scored eight of his points in the final 6:13.
Brad Davison finished with a career-high 30 points, 23 of them in the second half, on 10-for-18 shooting for Wisconsin (14-17, 7-11). Ethan Happ added 13 points for the Badgers.
After two stories by Yahoo Sports on Friday linked Bridges and his mother to Christian Dawkins _ who was charged in the sweeping, ongoing FBI investigation that uncovered fraud, bribery and corruption in college basketball _ MSU issued a statement Saturday that the university and NCAA had cleared the sophomore forward to play "for competition moving forward, beginning Sunday at Wisconsin," interim athletic director Bill Beekman said.
The Yahoo reports cited expense reports from disgraced former middle man Dawkins for NBA agent Andy Miller and his ASM Sports agency, that outlined $470 in money and a meal given to Bridges' mother, Cynthia, which could be deemed as impermissible benefits by the NCAA.
Izzo said on the pregame show it was "an emotional week with Miles going through what he went through."
MSU gave the ball to Bridges after winning the tip, and he missed his first shot. However, he gathered the rebound near the free-throw line, dribbled into the lane and dropped a two-handed hammer dunk over Wisconsin's Ethan Happ to start the game.
After that, though, Bridges struggled with his shooting. He missed his final six shots of the first half to finish 1-for-7 with two points in 18 minutes, but the 6-foot-7 swingman also had four rebounds and two assists while setting his teammates up for a few other baskets with passes.
MSU scored the first eight points of the game, including four of Ward's 10 first-half points. Winston got hot from outside, hitting three 3-pointers for 11 points in helping to build a 10-point lead with 3:35 left before halftime.
After Wisconsin cut it to 34-27 at halftime, the Badgers scored the first four points of the second half to make it a three-point game. MSU missed its first six shots, including two from Bridges.
That's when Davison started cooking. After going 3-for 7-to open the game, the freshman guard made 5-for-6 to open the second half, including three straight long jumpers after a shoulder injury briefly forced him out of the game. The Badgers tied MSU at 42 on the last of that string with 11:30 left.
It went back and forth from there, with Wisconsin taking its first lead of the day on a Happ layup with 9:53 to play. Two free throws by Nate Reuvers put the Badgers up for the last time at 49-47 with 7:18 remaining.
That's when Winston hit a 3-pointer, Bridges hit a jumper to break a long drought, and then Jackson and Winston hit two more 3s to pull the Spartans back ahead by seven.
Wisconsin chipped it back to a 2-point game before Bridges hit a hook shot with 3:31 remaining to stem the Badgers' momentum. Jackson and Bridges hit eight free throws down the stretch to help close out the outright title.
The Spartans travel to New York for the Big Ten tournament as the No. 1 seed, earning a double-bye for the first two days. They will open at noon on Friday at Madison Square Garden against the winner of Thursday's game between No. 8 seed Maryland and No. 9 seed Wisconsin.
