"I feel so bad for our kids," Lion coach Jerry Dunn said. "They came out and played hard, and competed … I keep asking myself if it's something I'm doing."

"I don't know how many games we've lost real close," Lion forward Gyasi Cline-Heard said. "It's getting real repetitive. I'm getting real tired of it."

Sunday, the Lions (10-10, 2-8, Big Ten) lost to No. 21 Indiana, 98-95, in double-overtime at the Jordan Center when Hoosier guard A.J. Guyton's heaving 3-pointer crushed the Lions' hopes of an upset.

"My hat's off to Jerry Dunn," Spartan coach Tom Izzo said. "I don't know if I could have gotten a team up the way he did. That's a very good basketball team. They're just unlucky."

This time the misfortune was provided by Cleaves, who joins Guyton as one of the Big Ten's top guards. After the Spartans (19-4, 8-1) called a timeout with 16 seconds remaining, Cleaves took the inbound pass, scanned the floor, and drove to his right with Lion guard Joe Crispin mirroring each action.

As time expired, Cleaves launched a 10-footer from his midsection that somehow found its way to the basket.

"(Cleaves) and I had a little conference to decide what play to run at the end," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said of his leader, who paced the Spartans with 14 points and five assists. "I wanted to run one, and he kind of said, ‘Let's look at this other one.' And like a good coach would do, I went with my player."

The Lions, who were led by center Calvin Booth and his game-high 18 points, confirmed their worst fears in the opening minutes -- possibly playing flat as a result of Sunday's disappointment -- while the Spartans showed the explosiveness they featured in the seven-game winning streak heading into last night's matchup.

After Michigan State went on a 13-2 run to grab a 22-8 lead, the Lions answered with 10-4 and 9-0 stretches of their own to climb back into the game, 30-27, before trailing 37-33 at the half.

"We wanted to get off to a great start, and we did," Spartan coach Tom Izzo said. "Somehow, they rallied."

The Lions continued to answer the Spartans and eventually took their first lead of the game with 5:38 to play when guard Titus Ivory drilled two free throws, giving Penn State a 61-59 advantage.

But the lead was short-lived. Both traded buckets until Ivory hit a three to break a 65-65 tie with 2:16 remaining.

When Michigan State failed to answer, the Lions missed an opportunity to make the contest a two-possession game. With the shot clock expiring, Crispin drove along baseline, but got caught in heavy traffic and turned the ball over with 1:14 left.

"With the shot clock running down," Crispin said, "I was trying to draw a foul. I thought (the defender) would go up, but he didn't."

Cleaves, who notched only two points in the first half, then tied it with a three before hitting that final shot.