The Ohio St. Buckeyes and Michigan St. Spartans did battle in Columbus, Ohio on Sunday afternoon. And the career of Aaron Craft came to an end in poetic fashion.
Craft came away with a loose ball in the waning seconds of the game that helped catapult his unranked Buckeyes to victory by the score of 69-67. The win pushed the Buckeyes to a 23-8 record heading into the Big Ten Tournament, and left Sparty to fall to an identical record of 23-8.
Columbus said goodbye to both Craft and Lenzelle Smith Jr. on Sunday afternoon, as the two seniors are set to exit when their season comes to an end. For Craft and Smith, Senior Day fell on two separate ends of the spectrum. The Findlay, Oh. native Craft scored 12, dished out seven assists and rounded out his performance with four steals.
The Zion, Ill. native Smith Jr. faced a few struglges on his final day in Value City Arena. The guard shot just 30.0 percent on 10 attempts but dominated on the glass for eight rebounds and finished with nine points and got four assists as well.
A spirited offensive effort from the Spartans was diminished in one category: turnovers. While three starters finished in double figures, with Adreian Payne finishing with a game-high 23 points, Michigan St. could not take care of the basketball, committing 14 turnovers on the afternoon.
Ohio St. finished with 10 of their own, but were able to capitalize late in the game when the Spartan offense could not keep control while the game was on the line.
Both teams will begin Big Ten Tournament play later this week. Ohio St. or Nebraska will take on Purdue while Michigan St. is a three-seed in the tournament.