by Joe Rexrode, USA TODAY Sports

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The distances between defenders and shooters were smaller. The emotional swings were larger. And the roars were definitely louder.

Breslin Center used Saturday night to showcase Big Ten basketball, two of its best programs in perhaps its finest current rivalry, that atmosphere this building can still create and the team that can still emerge from it.

Keith Appling broke a tie in the final minute with a driving basket on Aaron Craft and scored the final six points for No. 17 Michigan State, delivering a 59-56 win over No. 11 Ohio State. For all the Spartans (16-3, 5-1) still aren’t doing well consistently, they’re doing enough when it matters and sitting alone in first place in the league standings today.

“I’m gonna quit critiquing how good or bad (we are), I know we’ve got some things to work on,” MSU coach Tom Izzo said after his program improved to 166-34 in its 200th Big Ten game at Breslin, “but I also know we did some things really well. … We really fought in the last five minutes, finding ways to win. And as much as that may frustrate you, as it does me at times, it says something about your character if you can find ways to win.”

Appling scored 15 and Adreian Payne 14 to lead MSU, while Payne did all he could in a career-high 32 minutes to defend Ohio State star forward Deshaun Thomas. Thomas had 28 points and 10 of 19 total baskets for the Buckeyes (13-4, 3-2), but he did not get a chance at a tying shot on the final possession.

After Appling hit two free throws with 7.9 seconds left, OSU guard Shannon Scott missed a deep three-pointer instead of getting the ball to Thomas. Izzo said MSU was going to foul Thomas instead of letting him put up a tying attempt, but that scenario never materialized.

“That was not the play that cost us the game,” insisted OSU coach Thad Matta, whose team has won four times at Breslin dating back to the 2006 Big Ten season, with the rest of the Big Ten … [For more on No. 17 Michigan State tops No. 11 Ohio State, click here.]