Lead over Spartans slips away

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- For IU, this is the one that got away. And Tom Coverdale took the blame. \nAll of it. \nThe junior point guard committed a foul, missed a free throw and missed a potential game-tying three pointer as time expired Sunday. IU coughed up sole possession of first place in the Big Ten, falling to Michigan State 57-54 in front of a Breslin Center crowd of 14,759. \nWith IU trailing by three and 3.6 seconds on the clock, Coverdale caught a pass from senior guard Dane Fife and fired a three pointer from the right wing, but the ball bounced off the rim, sending IU to its ninth consecutive loss in East Lansing. \n"I missed it," Coverdale said. "That's why we lost the game."\nNo. 23 IU (18-9, 10-4 Big Ten) -- now tied with Ohio State on top of the Big Ten -- blew a 16-point first-half lead and an eight-point edge with eight minutes remaining, as Michigan State (17-10, 8-6) closed the game on a 23-12 run.\nCoverdale led IU with 11 points. Jared Jeffries, who sat out 11 minutes of the first half with three fouls and played the final 12 minutes with four, and Fife scored 10 each. Marcus Taylor led MSU with 16. \n"That was an epic Big Ten war," MSU coach Tom Izzo said. "Wow. What a win."\nAfter Jeffries handed IU a 53-50 lead on a spinning bucket with 1:05 left, Spartan forward Adam Ballinger drained a three pointer over IU's Jeff Newton to tie the game and kick-start the Spartan comeback.\nJeffries spun through the lane again on IU's next possession, but his wild shot hit nothing but the backboard, and MSU's Alan Anderson snatched the rebound. \nTaylor, a sophomore, dribbled away time near mid-court, but Coverdale reached for a steal and was whistled for a foul. An 85-percent free-throw shooter, Taylor hit both of the one-and-one shots and put MSU on top for the first time since leading 5-4.\nCoverdale drove the length of the floor after the free throws and drew a foul with 6.8 seconds left. IU's top free-throw shooter at 83 percent, he sank the first one, but the second sailed long, and Anderson again grabbed the rebound. \n"It's just like any other free throw," Coverdale said. "I just missed it. I missed two open looks and made a stupid foul."\nAnderson hit both free throws, putting MSU up 57-54 and making way for Coverdale's last look. \nAfter a timeout gave IU the ball at midcourt, Jeffries took the inbounds pass from Fife and gave it back to Fife, who dribbled right and found Coverdale. But his shot from a step behind the three-point line didn't fall. \nThe play wasn't the one IU coach Mike Davis drew up in the team huddle. That one was supposed to get an open look in the corner for Jeffries or junior guard Kyle Hornsby.\nThe final sequence was indicative of a grind-it-out second half. IU scored only two points over the first nine minutes, then strung together six consecutive points to extend its lead to eight with eight minutes left. From there, the Spartans hit three three pointers and all six of their free-throw tries. Taylor led the charge with eight points. \nDuring the same stretch, IU missed a pair of free throws and committed a costly turnover with 2:35 left and a three-point lead. Coverdale's inbounds pass from under IU's bucket sailed over Hornsby's head, who chased the ball to the other end of the court and tried to call a timeout. He didn't get the call, and Michigan State erased IU's lead just like it did after IU raced to three 16-point leads in the first half. \nIU hit 6-of-11 first-half threes but missed all seven three-point tries in the second half. IU led 30-14 with less than six minutes left in the first half, but MSU closed the half on an 11-2 run. Over the final five minutes of the first half and the first nine of the second, IU scored four points. \n"I knew we wouldn't blow them out here," Davis said. "They made adjustments. They had to make shots, and they made shots"