College men's basketball: Michigan State wins Big Ten tournament

INDIANAPOLIS - Michigan’s march to a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed went off the rails on Sunday.
Michigan State claimed a 69-55 Big Ten tournament victory that denied the Wolverines the postseason title to match their regular-season championship.
It also cost the Wolverines a top NCAA seed. Instead, Michigan was No. 2 in the Midwest Region behind unbeaten Wichita State.
“I think Michigan would have been a top NCAA seed had they won,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said.
Forward Adreian Payne scored a game-high 18 points as the Spartans (26-8) claimed the Big Ten’s automatic NCAA Tournament berth and earned a No. 4 seed in the East Region.
Michigan State maintained a perfect record in Big Ten championship-game appearances with its fourth win in four tries and second in three seasons.
Eighth-ranked Michigan, the Big Ten regular-season champ and No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, struggled from the field much of the afternoon, finishing 17 of 54 (31.5 percent) as guards Nik Stauskas scored 17 points and Derrick Walton Jr. added 11.
Guards Branden Dawson and Gary Harris each added 15 points for Michigan State.
“(The Spartans) were exceptional in everything they did,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “Their defense was really good, their steals in the first half and their offensive rebounding just took possessions from us.”
The No. 22-ranked Spartans, seeded No. 3 in the tournament, also took advantage of nine Wolverines turnovers and converted them into 18 points, outscored Michigan 16-3 on fast breaks and had a 38-20 advantage in points in the paint.
“I told our guys I think our defense is going to make the difference tonight,” Izzo said. “We were so much better defensively in this whole tournament.”
The Wolverines’ first-half highlights came early as they jumped to a quick but short-lived 9-4 lead four minutes into the game. The Spartans replied when Dawson’s three-point play launched a 12-0 run that extended to a 21-5 surge for a 25-14 lead with 9:16 left in the half. Michigan State led 38-29 at halftime.
Michigan missed its first five shots from the field in the second half and Michigan State extended its lead to 46-29 - its biggest to that point - on back-to-back Payne jumpers and a Dawson layup followed by a dunk with 16:57 remaining.
“I thought we had a couple of really good looks and didn’t convert and they did,” Beilein said. “All of a sudden it’s 15 and now you’re fighting back the whole way.”
The Wolverines never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way.