In OT thriller, Fears pushes Michigan State past Illinois, 85-82

East Lansing — If Tom Izzo hadn’t made up his mind about disciplining Jeremy Fears Jr. when he spoke to the media Friday, then he had by tip-off of Saturday’s top-10 matchup with Illinois. He started Fears, his phenom point guard, in a game vital to Michigan State’s Big Ten title chase.

After a noisy week off the court, Fears scored 26 points and dished 15 assists to lead No. 10 Michigan State to a 85-82 victory over No. 5 Illinois Saturday night at Breslin Center. Illinois forward Jake Davis forced overtime at the foul line in the final second of regulation, but Fears scored 11 in overtime to win the game.

The victory is Michigan State’s first top 10 win and fourth ranked victory of the season. The Spartans (20-4, 10-3 Big Ten) had dropped three ranked games to Duke, Nebraska and Michigan heading into the game.

David Mirkovic scored 18 points and Andrej Stojakovic scored 17 to lead Illinois as star freshman Keaton Wagler went 2-for-16 with 16 points against stingy defense. The Illini hauled in 15 offensive rebounds to feed 14 second-chance points and 30 points in the paint.

Fears led Michigan State in scoring, while Jaxon Kohler, Kur Teng and Jordan Scott also hit double digits. A 22-0 edge in fastbreak points and a 47-38 edge on the glass helped Michigan State erase a four-point deficit at halftime.

BOX SCORE: Michigan State 85, Illinois 82, OT

In overtime, Fears put Michigan State up on the opening possession with a layup. After a stop, center Carson Cooper drew a foul and split free throws, an offensive rebound by Kohler yielded no points. Illinois tied the score off a 3-pointer from Tomislav Ivisic with 3:25 to play. And free throws by Wagler off a Fears foul made it 76-74 Illinois with 2:42 to play.

Again, Fears took matters into his own hands with a quick burst to the rim and drew another foul at 2:22. Ivisic fouled out on the play, and Fears tied the score at 76. He drove and pulled up for a stretching layup, which he converted for an and-one and a 79-76 lead. His next miss fed a tap-in for Cam Ward that put Michigan State up 81-76 entering the final minute.

Scott fouled out with 49.4 seconds to play, the foul drawn by Wagler, and the Illinois freshman split his shots. Illinois tried to double Fears when he got the ball, forcing it into others’ hands, but the ball found its way back to Fears just north of 20 seconds, and Fears found Wagler’s shoulder for another foul to ice the victory with 21.9 to play.

Illinois trailed by 6 when Wagler hit a big 3-pointer with 6 seconds on the clock, and it had the ball as the final seconds ticked off the clock, but a missed shot ended the game.

After scoring just two points in the first half on free throws, Illinois freshman standout Keaton Wagler got active early in the second half with two more free throws to follow a 3-pointer from Andrej Stojakovic. Already up 39-34, Illinois (20-4, 11-2 Big Ten) scored the first five points of the second half before Michigan State found an answer off the hand of Kur Teng. 

Then Wagler hit a 3-pointer at 16:34 — his only made field goal — that made it 47-39, but Michigan State responded with a pair of dunks, both dished by Fears, to Carson Cooper and Coen Carr. 

After a timeout, a drive from Fears and Cam Ward free throws brought it all the way even at 47 with 14:11 to play. As he jogged back down on defense, Ward had words for Illinois center Ivisic as Fears and Teng slapped the court. Michigan State got the stop, then took the lead at 13:17 on another Carr dunk. Over a four-minute stretch, Michigan State outscored Illinois 14-4.

Ivisic got it back at the other end, where the score sat for two minutes, more so because of scoreless offense than flawless defense. But a four-point play from Illinois forward Jake Davis, and the foul by Ward, drew a five-point Illinois lead at 10:43.

Davis heaved another 3-pointer up 56-53 with a little less than 10 minutes to play, a late close-out by Scott leaving him open. Davis bricked it, then Scott flushed his own 3-pointer off the fastbreak — making a 21-0 edge in that category for his Spartans — at the other end to retie the score at 56 with 9:03 on the clock. A 5-0 burst from Illinois edged ahead yet again, before a hook shot from Cooper made it 61-58 two and a half minutes later.

Kohler’s 3-pointer at 5:38 got Michigan State as close as two points, but Stojakovic kept Illinois in front with a pair of layups that made it 65-61 with 3:54 to play.

Needing to draw even, Michigan State put the ball in Fears’ hands, and he got to the line, hitting three of four free throws, one of them to make it 65-64 with 2:42 to play after he drew a lane violation by an Illinois player. When Wagler hit free throws at the other end, Fears sprinted right to the cup at the other end to get it back to a one-point game. 

On a scramble for an offensive rebound off a Kohler missed 3-pointer, Scott drew a foul and hit two free throws to take a 68-67 lead with 1:49 to play.

Out of a timeout with 1:30 to play, Illinois put the ball in the hands of Wagler, who’d been cold most of the night but has proven to be its shotmaker. He dribbled inside, walled up by Cooper, and missed his 11th shot of the game. As Cooper walked to another timeout huddle, teammates swatted his chest and pumped him up for the stop. 

The Spartans would need more, though, to complete the victory. After a Fears miss, Mirkovic took the ball at the top of the key and dribbled his way for a go-ahead layup with 32 seconds to go.

With 8.6 seconds on the clock, Teng drained a second-chance 3-pointer off a feed from Kohler to put MSU up 71-69.

At the other end, Wagler sprinted up to shoot a 3-pointer and missed, but a scramble for the loose ball led to a foul for Illinois forward Jake Davis. With a lonely second on the clock, Davis hit both shots, split by a timeout. A 3-pointer by Carson Cooper didn’t fall and overtime ensued.

Tough defense made scoring hard to come by as the game began, and Michigan State turned the ball over on its first three possessions. But good defense at the other end, including a block by Jordan Scott and a steal by Coen Carr, kept it scoreless until Carr’s swipe led to a Jeremy Fears Jr. Eurostep at the other end. Illinois took a 7-6 lead in the first five minutes.

Two of the best rebounding teams in the Big Ten, and all of Division I, Michigan State and Illinois started the game with a physicality to match their reputation — and fit the theme of a game in which early arriving students received branded luchador masks. Players paid a toll for every inch of space in the paint. A couple minutes in, Michigan State wing Jordan Scott jogged to the locker room with a towel on his face, bleeding above his eyebrow. He returned to the court with a big bandage above his right eye.

At 13:33, Illinois sixth man Ivisic blocked Coen Carr hard on a dunk attempt and Carr’s head banged off the hardwood. Play stopped after an Illinois bucket as Carr writhed in pain, but he returned to the game at 10:18 after getting attention from the trainer. His first half included a reverse two-hand jam off a lob by Fears with 50.6 seconds to play.

Michigan State found another statement dunk shortly after Carr got hurt. After a bucket by fellow DMV freshman Scott, Ward jostled for a defensive rebound and took it the other way for a two-handed slam over Ivisic, then flexed his arms down in celebration heading back down the court. His bucket tied the score at 12 with 12:43 on the clock. A 3-pointer from Jaxon Kohler turned a 7-0 run into a 15-12 lead.

Illinois rallied from its largest deficit of the half quickly, though, outpacing Michigan State 13-4, including a 7-0 run, over a four minute, nine second stretch to lead 25-19 with 8:06 to play. But after Carson Cooper drew Ivisic’s second foul in the paint, shooting guard Teng hit a 3-pointer on the other side of a timeout, then flushed a middy off a Fears feed at 6:09. 

Teng’s burst drew the Spartans within one before Illinois’ Ben Humrichious hit back-to-back 3-pointers, which Trey Fort and Kohler later matched at the other end.

Fears faced no extra punishment from his coach, but he did face some external scrutiny. After his left foot tripped Illinois guard David Mirkovic with 2:55 to go in the first half, Illinois coach Brad Underwood called for a review, incensed at the play. If Fears’ trip attempt against Michigan and his reverse-kick called for a technical foul put the spotlight on him, then this time that extra scrutiny came back with a more definitive answer: No foul. Play on. And Scott hit a jumper to tie the score at 33 after the break.

Illinois pulled away for a 39-35 lead at the half as star freshman Keaton Wagler drew his first points from the free throw line with 42 seconds on the clock. Mirkovic, Humrichious and Andrej Stojakovic combined for 25 of the Illini’s points.

This is a developing story. Check back later for updates!

cearegood@detroitnews.com

@ConnorEaregood