Marcus Bingham Jr. threw down an alley-oop dunk with less than 4 seconds left to lift Michigan State to a 63-61 victory over Loyola Chicago on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas.
The Spartans had an inbounds play with 16 seconds to go and the game tied at 61. Tyson Walker dribbled down most of the clock before making a drive to the lane and lofting a pass above the rim to Bingham.
Michigan State (4-1) got a vital contribution from Malik Hall, who scored a career-high 24 points on 9-of-9 shooting plus seven rebounds. Bingham finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Michigan State will face No. 22 UConn in the semifinals on Thursday, while Loyola Chicago (4-1) will meet No. 19 Auburn in the loser’s bracket.
The Ramblers’ Jacob Hutson tied the game at 58 with 2:08 to go. Hall knocked down his only 3-point attempt of the game from the corner to put the Spartans ahead, but Braden Norris countered for Loyola with a 3 of his own to make it 61-61 entering the final minute.
Lucas Williamson scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Loyola.
Michigan State opened with a 9-0 lead while Loyola missed its first seven shots. It took 6:30 before the Ramblers got on the board on Ryan Schwieger’s driving layup. But they turned their fortunes around by getting eight different players involved in scoring in the first half, taking their first lead at 18-17 on Keith Clemons’ 3-pointer with 6:44 left.
After Julius Marble responded with a bucket to lift the Spartans back in front, Loyola ripped off 10 straight points and hit the locker room with a 28-23 lead.
Gabe Brown knocked down three treys in the first six minutes of the second half to help Michigan State trim the deficit to 37-36. Jaden Akins then blocked a Loyola shot off the backboard and Hall took it coast-to-coast for the layup and a foul.
The Ramblers didn’t allow the Spartans to get ahead by more than four, and Williamson made layups on consecutive possessions to restore Loyola’s lead with 4:05 to go. Joey Hauser responded with a long jumper to make it 57-56 Michigan State, setting up the nail-biting finish.
–Field Level Media
