MSU Team News
Roy J. Akers — www.skyviewsports.net
East Lansing, Mi. — MSU is keeping busy, going into the holidays, and is playing in state teams like UDMercy and Oakland with a B1G on the horizon against Iowa on December 2nd. Would Tom Izzo’s team make a statement or would they struggle?
First Half –
MSU opens the game on a 10-0 run as MSU takes advantage of a U of D Mercy 0-12 shooting stretch as Coen Carr starts out strong with a 10-0 lead nearly 4:30 in the game. Coen’s six points and three rebounds primed the pump. UD begins the game 1-13, making only a single FG from Nate Johnson. MSU goes cold for nearly three minutes and Carr buries a triple to extend the green and white lead to 15-4.
Rolling ahead to 7:55, MSU has increased their lead to 12 as Coen Carr has a dozen points and four rebounds. Key so far is the MSU shooting coming in at 50 percent and UD Mercy at only 6-24. As the first half brings MSU to a 17-point lead, UDM’s Stone makes a long-range two with a foot on the line to cut the Spartan lead to 14. Some of the early MSU mojo has gone flat and Izzo calls a timeout with 44.3 seconds to go in the first half. MSU earns a late basket and leads after 20 minutes 41-25. MSU is 11-16 from the free-throw line, UDM is 3-11.
Halftime Stat Leaders
Second Half
As in the first half, poor shooting in the early minutes put UD Mercy down by 19. Jere Fears Jr. with a big basket and MSU leads 53-31. MSU has 14 bench points in the game. MSU scores eight points in under two minutes and it’s 55-31. With the crowd behind Izzo’s team, the Titans Orlando Lovejoy is a bright spot with 12 points. With six minutes spent in the second half, UDM cuts the MSU lead to 20 and the home team is sloppy on back-to-back possessions.
With under 12 minutes left in the game, UDM has some rhythm. MSU is 0-5/1-7 and has no points in over 2:30. That grows to over four minutes when Jaxson Kohler makes a pair of free throws. Jere Fears Jr. makes a field goal, and now MSU is up by 25. Dunk Alert. Carr brings the thunder, and just like that, MSU goes up by 27. Carson Cooper throws down a thunder slam with just under six minutes to go. UDM goes on a 5-6 FG run to trail by 20 with just under four minutes to go. The IZZONE is satisfied with the 24-point lead and heads for the exits. MSU goes up 81-54 before a UDM bucket good by Johnson. Divine Ugochukwu finishes the scoring and the Spartans win 84-56.
Stats
More Stats
Roy J. Akers covers the B1G for www.skyviewsports.net
