Energized Spartans Kick Off Season With Dominant 81-57 Victory Over Monmouth
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State made it known basketball season was back on Monday night when the Spartans vanquished Monmouth, 81-57, to open their year 1-0.
The Breslin Center was rocking, and the players simply looked too energized to be stopped.
The Spartans opened with a 9-2 lead by the first media timeout, a stretch in which it forced three Monmouth turnovers.
Michigan State's lead would eventually grow to 15 before its scoring began to slow down before the midway point of the first half.
The Hawks would trim the deficit to 11 before sophomore forward Coen Carr had a chance to give Spartans 14-point lead with an and-one conversion. He missed the free throw, and instead, transfer senior foward Frankie Fidler grabbed the board and attempted to put it back but was fouled.
Fidler knocked down both free throws to lift the Spartans back to a 15-point advantage.
At halftime, the deficit was back down to just 11 points, a margin that could have been much larger had it not been for Michigan State's struggles from beyond the arc. The Spartans shot just 1-of-10 from deep in the first half.
Monmouth did do its part offensively to have kept the game from getting away from it going into halftime. The Hawks recorded 7 second-half chance points, compared to Michigan State's 2.
Monmouth had a hard time getting in a rhythm from 3-point land as well, going 4-of-14 in the firt half. Though, those points from beyond the arc almost accounted for almost half of the Hawks' first-half total of 27.
The visitors opened the second half with a 5-0 run, cutting the Spartans' advantage to just 6 points.
But the Spartans would go on their own run, as senior guard Jaden Akins took over, scoring 9 straight points, including a much-coveted 3-pointer. That triple seemed to give Michigan State the boost it needed to widen the gap.
Following Akins' 9-point burst, Michigan State finished with a 32-20 run down the stretch.
The veteran guard ended up with a game-high 23 points and nearly recorded a double-double, having grabbed nine boards . The only other Spartan to finish in double figures was freshman guard Jase Richardson, who totaled 10.
The Spartans shot a decent 49% from the field. The 3-point scoring still needs to improve, as Michigan State made just three triples on 18 attempts. But fortunately for the Spartans, it was Game 1.
Michigan State checked itself after the Hawks' hot start to the second half and never looked back, ultimately winning by 24 points.
The Spartans will be back in action in just two days when they host Niagara on Thursday at 8 p.m.
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