EAST LANSING, Mich. — Senior guard Jaden Akins scored 18 points to lead two players in double figures as No. 18/15 Michigan State used a late run in the second half and held off Western Michigan, 80-62, at the Breslin Center on Monday afternoon.
Akins scored 14 of his game-high 18 points in the first half as the Spartans took a 13-point lead as two players scored in double figures for MSU, with junior center Carson Cooper scoring a career-high 13 points and grabbed six rebounds.
Senior center Szymon Zapala had 8 points and a game-high 9 rebounds, while junior guard Tre Holloman had 9 points and 5 assists and redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. finished with 3 points and a game-high 6 assists.
Records
Michigan State improves to 11-2 overall, while Western Michigan falls to 3-9.
Recap
- The Spartans went into the second half with a 13-point lead (37-24) and Western Michigan scored the first 10 points of the second half to cut the lead to 37-34 and MSU led by no more than 10 points over the opening 10 minutes of the second half.
- Western Michigan pulled to within 59-52 with 7:26 left before MSU scored six-straight points and took a 65-52 lead on free throws from Carr at the 5:06 mark.
- Free throws from Donovan Williams made it 65-56 (4:19) and the Spartans responded with eight-straight points and extended their lead to 73-56 (2:35) on two more free throws from Carr.
- A jumper from junior guard Nick Sanders gave MSU its biggest lead, 80-60, with 35 seconds left.
- Michigan State led by 13 points, 37-24, at the break, but Western Michigan scored the first 10 points of the second half and pulled to within 37-34 on a 3-pointer from Owen Lobsinger just under three minutes into the second half.
- The Spartans extended their lead back to eight points, 42-34, following a layup from Zapala and a 3-pointer from Akins at the 17:28 mark and a dunk from Cooper gave MSU a 49-41 lead.
- Western Michigan pulled back to within four points, 49-45, on a jumper from Chansey Willis Jr. with 11:56 left but the Spartans responded with a 9-2 run over 2:13 and took a 58-47 lead on a jumper from Zapala with 9:30 left to play.
- Despite 11 first half turnovers, the Spartans went into the break with a 37-24 lead after Zapala put-back a missed shot at the buzzer.
- Junior guard Tre Holloman hit MSU's first shot of the game, a 3-pointer nine seconds into the contest but Western responded with an 8-0 run and took an 8-3 lead on a 3-pointer from Brandon Muntu at the 17:07 mark.
- The Broncos took their biggest lead, 11-5, at 15:15 after a 3-pointer from JaVaughn Hannah.
- MSU responded with a 13-0 run over 3:34 and took an 18-11 lead on a free throw from Fears and a pair from senior forward Frankie Fidler er following a technical on the WMU bench at 11:33.
- Western Michigan cut the lead to 18-13 before a dunk from sophomore forward Xavier Booker gave MSU a 27-18 lead at 7:13 and forced the Broncos to call a timeout.
- That was part of an 11-4 lead capped off by an alley-oop dunk from junior center Carson Cooper at the 4:00 mark, giving MSU a 33-22 lead before Zapala's put-back extended the margin to 13 points.
Up NextMichigan State returns back to Big Ten Conference play at the start of the new year, traveling to play at Ohio State on Friday, Jan. 3 (FS1, 8 p.m.).
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