Michigan State's Cassius Winston and coach Tom Izzo embrace as Winston leaves the the team's NCAA college basketball game against Binghamton, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019, in East Lansing, Mich. Michigan State won 100-47. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)(Photo: Al Goldis, AP)

EAST LANSING Ten days before he'd leave this world, Zach Winston spun around in the Breslin Center stands to see where Cassius ran off to again.

The oldest Winston brothers team just beat his younger brothers' team in a game of basketball, but this one felt bigger than all the others.A 15,000-seat arena was their playground this time.

Theres one reason, and one reason only, that a reigning Final Four team like Michigan State would hostan exhibition with Albion College, and it was spelled out by the backs of the black T-Shirts in the crowd:

Winston vs. Winston.

This was the one and only time that Cassius would get to play a college basketball game against his brothers, Zach and Khy. And though Zach was merely a spectator due to a pulled hamstring, he cracked a smile from the stands when the buzzer sounded at the end, for now the party could begin.

Family and friends were huddled in a pack outside the locker room when Cassius opened the door. He was in a white hoodie, and they handed him one of those custom black shirts, where the front had a basketball design split in thirds one each for Cassius, Khy and Zach.

Michigan State senior point guard Cassius Winston (middle, right) poses with brothers Zach and Khy in addition to members of the basketball team at their alma mater, University of Detroit Jesuit High School.(Photo: Nate Atkins | Lansing State Journal)

The three boys crammed together, flashing peace signs as they cracked jokes on one another.

Children, children! Wendi Winston said, readying her phone to snap a photo.

Youve gotta get in the photo, Cassius Winston said to her. Its family.

The oldest Winston boywanted them all to be a part of thismemory, so the parents squeezed around thethree sons and flashed their signature toothy grins for one final photo together.

Just a week and a half later, the photos are a way to remember Zach. Its perhaps the closest Cassius can come to reaching his younger brother again.

The middle Winston posted one final set of photos to his Instagram account on Friday night. In them, hes smiling and flashing the peace sign again. His caption reads, I know the truth is you wont love me til Im gone. And even then the thing that comes after is moving on.

Two days later, Zach was gone. He died Saturday night after he was hit by an Amtrak train near the Albion campus.

The news hit Cassius soon after. He was in the team hotel the night before a game when Tom Izzo found him, holed up in an assistant coachs room and surrounded by all his teammates.

The news shook them all, given how close Zach was to being a part of the team. Matt McQuaid used to find him in his stall in the locker room after games because that was the closest he could get to Cassius.

Now, Cassius wished he could sit by his side one final time.

Often a screamer and a motivator, Izzo didnt have many words for this. He just knew his captain could use some space, to be with the brother he hadleft, and so he took Cassius and Khyon a walk away from everyone else.

He let Cassius do much of the talking. Cassius told Khy that they had to accept that their brother was in a better place now.

Back in the hotel room, silence filled the air until the quietest player on the team stood up. Marcus Bingham had only played with Cassius for one year, sharing the court for a handful of minutes, but he had a little brother he played basketball with, too. And he told his teammates to think about theirfamily members, to not just think but go back to their rooms and give them a call.

The concept of family is not just a basketball trope at Michigan State. Steven Izzo's dad is the coach. Kyle Ahrens and Xavier Tillman both have wives. Tillman has a 2-year-old daughter namedAyannawho will climb into Cassius' arms after the games.

Zach and Khy Winston have always seemed like little brothers to them.

Cassius would have given anything to have that last conversation with Zach. He was the closest brother in age, the one he walked 280 steps every day to middle school and toughened in King of the Court games out back, all so he could pass those traits to Khy. Their father, Reg, always wanted his first-born son to resemble a warrior, but he knew Cassius needed a tender side to keep a friendship going. So whenever the games at home would get too rough, the brothers would have to hug it out or share a car ride holding each others hand.

Basketball was a way to blend the toughness with love. Cassius might get up in your face one game and then pass you the game-winning assist on the next. He did plenty of both with Zach, including for two years on varsity together at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School. They celebrated their final game together by winning a state championship in the Breslin Center.

Then Khy got to play with Zach as Cassius went on to Michigan State, where he spread the Winston name around the country. He became the Big TenPlayer of the Year, a second-team All-American and a captain on a Final Four team, and yet none of therecognition comparedtowhat he saw in his brothers' eyes whenever theyd come to a game.

Their opinion means everything to me, Winston said a couple weeks ago. If they feel like Im doing a good job, then I truly feel like Im doing a good job.

It was a mutual bond.

He was always that big brother figure to me, Zach Winston said last spring.

Michigan State point guard Cassius Winston (center) poses for a photo with his brothers Khy (left) and Zach (right).(Photo: Photo courtesy of Zach Winston)

And so that's much ofhow the younger Winston brothers wound up at Albion College, a school of 1,500 students in a town of less than 9,000 people, located 50 miles south of East Lansing. That closeness meant staying in each others' busy lives. Cassius could finish a scrappy Big Ten battle and find Khy and Zach waiting for him in the locker room, and the younger brothers could run out for warm-ups in Albions Kresge Gym and spot their All-American big brother smiling from the crowd.

Cassius credited his brothers for taking him from the kid who cried after basketball losses to the one commandinga huddle in an NCAA Tournament game, where an entire team needed someone to look up to.

Now, Zach isnt looking up, and Cassius cant fill that void in his life anymore.

Sometime after 4 a.m. the night he lost him, Cassiuspulled up Zachs final Instagram photo and typed a reply.

I love you w everything in me gang. Wish I could wear yo pain on my shoulder.

When the sun rose the next day, Cassius pulled on his green warm-upsweats and headed back to the Breslin Center.

The Spartans were 15 minutes into their pregame shoot-around when the oldest Winston brother pushed through the doors. He soon told Izzo that he was wanted to play against Binghamton, but he didnt say why.

Khy came out to the gym, and so did their father, Reg, their first time back at a game since the photo with Zach in the lobby. The three remaining Winston boys then shot jumpers like old times.

Grief counselors arrived to help Izzo through what he called the toughest day of his coaching career. They spoke about how grief affects everyone differently and how the majority of it sets in later, like aholein the heart.

The hardest part of life that Im learning is it never stops. It keeps going. Someone dies and someone is born, Izzo said later that night. I think I knew that all my life, but then it hits home a little differently.

Hes coached in 22 NCAA Tournaments and eight Final Fours, but hed never gone to a place like this.

And so rather than pretend to have a game plan to follow that day, Izzo embraced the unknown. He asked his team to play with a broken heart. He told them to let the tears flow if they came, because this wasn't just a game and their point guard needed more from them than buckets tonight.

Michigan State's Cassius Winston, center, stands with teammates during a moment of silence in honor of Winston's younger brother, Zachary, before the team's NCAA college basketball game against Binghamton, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019, in East Lansing, Mich. Michigan State won 100-47. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)(Photo: Al Goldis, AP)

Those teammatesstood with him in a lineas a packed arena held a moment of silence. Cassius shook in place and pulled his hoodie up to shade his eyes while fellow seniors Kyle Ahrens and Joshua Langford rubbed his back.

He needs to know that hes not alone,Ahrens said. Hes our brother. Hes family.

Cassius was the final starter introduced, and he ran out into a huddlehis teammates formedwith their arms, as if to shade him for just a moment from the world.

Then the sweats came offand it was time to play.

On the first possession, Cassius assisted a three-point basket. On the second, he nailedhis own. Michigan State built up a leadfew will remember against an opponent thats easy to forget. Like the scrimmage against Albion, all that mattered was the people who played.

Cassius turned in a nearly flawless game, totaling 17 points and 11 assists with just one turnover. He went to check out near the end of theblowout, but Izzo told him he could haveone more chance to take some shots if he wanted, and that toothy grin cameout again. Cassius went back on the court, crossed over a defender and gently laid the ball into the net for a score.

In one game, Cassius made something difficult on the inside appear easy on the outside. He bottled it in like Zach would have, and that had him typing one final message to his brother that night.

You fought every demon w everything you had in you, Cassius wrote to Zachon Instagram after the game. You went to war w yourself every single day not knowing if you could win that battle. And you won time after time.

The next time I run into someone in your situation ima save them, cause thats what you would want me to do.

RELATED:How being the 'perpetual older brother' prepared Cassius Winston to be MSU's team captain

RELATED:How 'crybaby' Cassius Winston evolved into Michigan State basketball's iron man

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Contact Nate Atkins at natkins@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.

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How Cassius Winston wore pain on his shoulder and honored his brother's life - Lansing State Journal