Timing error leads to wild MSU victory over Florida Gulf Coast, 78-77

Tom Izzo promised his players that Florida Gulf Coast would present a tough challenge to No. 13 Michigan State.

Even he might not have realized just how difficult – and chaotic – it would be for his Spartans to survive.

Cassius Winston made a free throw and forced a tie-up on a loose ball after he missed the second, Miles Bridges hit a pair of free throws, and MSU hung on thanks to a “timing error” for a wild 78-77 victory over the Eagles on Sunday night at Breslin Center.

The clock started too soon on Florida Gulf Coast’s last-ditch pass and shot, which resulted in a replay and admission from game referees that a mistake was made. Had the shot fallen, MSU would have lost.

“You’re only gonna get one shot off in 1.6 seconds,” Izzo said. “Did it look like it went early? It did a little bit to me, but I can’t say I was watching that, either. As I said, there were some moments where both of us were scratching our heads.”

Official gives explanation of final seconds of MSU game

Senior Eron Harris scored 31 points, including 6 of 6 three-pointers, as freshman phenom Bridges was kept quiet for much of the night (13 points on 4 of 12 shooting, seven rebounds).

But Harris missed a pair of free throws with 3.5 seconds to play, giving the Eagles a final chance to win it after calling a timeout with 2.8 ticks remaining. Bridges swatted Christian Terrell’s first inbounds attempt back out of bounds, leaving FGCU with 1.6 left.

Terrell’s second throw was in the air when the clock started, with Antravious Simmons’ shot going up as the horn sounded. Head official Bo Boroski issued a statement to a pool reporter that called it “a timing error.” That allowed the replay review of the video with a stopwatch, and Boroski said the shot would have counted had it gone in the basket.

“If that try is released after the 1.6, we are going to wave it off,” Boroski said. “If that try is released before the 1.6, we are going to count it. It was determined it was released before the 1.6. We were prepared to count it. It did not go in, and using the stopwatch, we didn’t need to put any time back on the clock because it had expired.”

Boroski said Simmons shot the ball with 0.3 seconds remaining had the clock been started properly.

“He said he shot it because he heard the horn go off,” Florida Gulf Coast coach Joe Dooley said. “But you could see on the tape that he caught it at zero. That’s what happened. … The referees played the rule, which they have to. I thoroughly understand that.”

It was a reason to exhale for Izzo, if only for the final outcome. He felt there were some positives for the Spartans (2-2). That included fewer turnovers (12) and more free-throw attempts (33), two of the things he wanted to see.

But there were glaring causes for concern and consternation. The Eagles outrebounded the Spartans 41-29 and outscored them 40-22 in the paint. VCU transfer Simmons finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds, while Brandon Goodwin also scored 18. RaySean Scott Jr. added 14 points for FGCU  (1-3).

“Worse than anything is we looked soft inside,” Izzo said. “That almost never happens here.”

MSU also shot just 19 of 33 from the free-throw line. That included 11 second-half misses, including five in the final 5:51.

“It might have been a little bit of fatigue,” Harris said. “But, man, we’re top-level players. That’s no excuse. This is what we do. That’s something to kind of be disappointed about, but it’s something we’ll fix.”

Florida Gulf Coast took its first lead of the game less than 3 minutes into the second half on back-to-back buckets by Simmons, who used all of his 6-foot-9 frame to his advantage in the post against the undersized Spartans.

Harris quickly countered by draining a three-pointer to give MSU back the lead. Nick Ward scored five straight points, then Harris netted another triple as part of an 11-3 run.

The Eagles wouldn’t fly away, though. After Harris’ fourth three-pointer with 7:57 to play, MSU went ice cold from the floor. Rayjon Tucker drained a triple, sparking an 11-2 FGCU run. The Spartans didn’t help themselves, missing 4 of 6 free-throw attempts in that 4-minute, 40-second run by the Eagles.

Harris’ foul shot tied it at 64-all with 4:44 left. But after a protracted airborne battle above the rim, Brandon Goodwin got the loose ball at the top of the key and fed a wrap-around pass for a Simmons dunk. Goodwin then swooped in for a layup with 3:41 left that gave FGCU a 68-64 lead.

Bridges made a free throw and missed the second, but Kenny Goins got an offensive rebound, the Spartans swung the ball around the perimeter, and Harris buried another three-pointer to tie the game.

Back and forth it went, tied at 75-all with 22.8 seconds left. Winston got fouled on the inbound pass with 22.2 seconds left, making one of two and diving after the loose ball. Bridges hit his free throws with 16.5 left that proved to be the winners.

“It was kind of unfocused at the end,” Bridges said. “We had a long weekend. But we have to stay focused the whole game. We’ll be good.”

MSU leaves Monday for Nassau, Bahamas, where the Spartans will play St. John’s on Wednesday (7 p.m./axsTV) in the first of three games at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.

Contact Chris Solari:csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@chrissolari.

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