EAST LANSING, Mich. _ Cassius Winston wasn't about to lose his last game at the Breslin Center.
The Michigan State guard was at his best on Sunday as No. 16 Michigan State hosted No. 19 Ohio State with a share of the Big Ten championship on the line, and one of the best players in program history delivered a third straight title for the Spartans with an 80-69 victory.
Winston scored 27 points and handed out six assists while getting plenty of help from his teammates. Freshman Rocket Watts scored 19 while Xavier Tillman added 15 points and nine rebounds with Aaron Henry adding 12 points for the Spartans.
Michigan State (22-9, 14-6 Big Ten) shared the regular-season championship with Wisconsin and Maryland and will be the No. 2 seed in next week's Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis, playing its first game on Friday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
"This is the third year in row we were playing here for a championship," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said on the court as the Spartans celebrated Senior Day. "There is nothing in the entire world I like more than hanging banners. These are memory makers, footprints in the sand.
"Someday this building will crumble but those banners will move to another building and they ain't forgetting us. I'll make sure of that."
The victory on Sunday marked a remarkable close to the regular season as Michigan State won five in a row with the last four coming against ranked teams, two coming on the road.
After the loss at home to Maryland on Feb. 15, the Spartans sat two-and-a-half games out of first place and Izzo talked about needing a miracle to get back into the race. Five games later, Michigan State State was raising a banner, the 10th time Izzo has captured a conference championship.
"There are memories," Izzo said. "And I've been involved in some great memories. But coming back from where we were at and the way the season was going and with everything we went through, this has to go down as one of those great memory-making moments."
Duane Washington scored 16 for Ohio State (22-10, 11-9) while C.J. Walker scored 14, E.J. Liddell added 12 and Luther Muhammad had 10 for the Buckeyes.
Michigan State had all the momentum to open the game. After Ohio State scored seven points in a row to take a 7-4 lead, the Spartans responded with a 12-0 run that included eight straight points from Watts. The freshman guard hit a short jumper from the baseline on a feed from Winston then nailed two straight 3-pointers, the second banking in, to give Michigan State a 16-7 lead.
The advantage was extended to 21-10 when Winston made three free throws after getting fouled on a 3-pointer from the corner. Ohio State scored the next five before Watts banked in another three. Three minutes later, Winston hit a deep 3-pointer and Tillman converted on a jump-hook to give the Spartans their biggest lead of the half, 31-19, with 6:21 left before halftime.
Ohio State began to chip away at that point, pulling within four points at 32-28 with 3:27 left in the half. It went back and forth from there before Tillman hit a baseline jumper at the buzzer to give Michigan State a 38-32 lead at halftime.
The Buckeyes were in control to open the second half, scoring eight seconds in and eventually tying the game at 42 on a layup from Andre Wesson. Ohio State couldn't pull ahead though, despite several chances and Michigan State took advantage as Winston scored five in a row followed by four straight from Henry to push the lead to 53-46.
A 9-2 run after an Ohio State triple gave Michigan State a 62-51 lead with 9:15 to play, but Washington buried a 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock to make it 62-54 with 8:36 left in the game.
However, it didn't slow the Spartans, who continued to pull away down the stretch.
Tillman dunked on a feed from Malik Hall before Henry got two straight steals, taking one the length of the floor for a layup then hitting a pair of free throws after the second to give Michigan State a 70-56 lead with 5:46 to play.
Michigan State cruised from there as Winston, Kyle Ahrens and Conner George all kissed the Spartan logo at midcourt.
