Spartans Redeem Themselves in OT, End Maui Trip on a High Note With Upset Over No. 12 UNC
Michigan State's third and final contest of the Maui Invitational on Wednesday was one of ups and downs.
It would take an overtime session for the Spartans to pull off a 94-91 upset over No. 12 North Carolina, but nonetheless, Michigan State came out victorious to end their trip as third-place winners of the tournament.
The Spartans were led in the scoring column by junior point guard Tre Holloman, who made his first start of the season. He led all scorers with a career-high 19 points, with 13 having come in the first half.
In a game where Michigan State was without its leading scorer through the first two games of the tournament, freshman guard Jase Richardson, five other Spartans joined Holloman with double figures in the scoring column, including sophomore forward Coen Carr (14), senior guard Jaden Akins (14), redshirt freshman point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. (13), senior forward Frankie Fidler (13) and sophomore forward Xavier Booker (12).
Michigan State started off hot, quickly jumping out to a 10-2 start that included an 8-0 run.
It didn't take long for North Carolina to make it a game, though, as the Tar Heels came to within 4 at 17-13 at the 11:31 mark of the first half.
But Michigan State would go on another 8-0 run, highlighted by back-to-back triples from Holloman and Fidler.
Holloman would add two more 3-pointers, making it three in a matter of 5 minutes. The third gave the Spartans their largest lead of the contest until that point, 13, with almost 5-and-a-half minutes to go in the half.
Shortly after, a converted and-1 from Carr would give Michigan State its largest lead of the contest at 14.
North Carolina eventually cut the lead down to 9, which would serve as the deficit at halftime, as the Spartans went into the break with a 43-34 advantage.
The Tar Heels came out determined to start the second half, trimming Michigan State's lead to just 6. But the Spartans didn't back down, answering with 4 unanswered points to go up 10.
North Carolina was relentless as well, however, as it responded with a 7-0 run that included a converted and-1 from sophomore guard Elliott Cadeau, who would lead the second-half scoring effort for the Tar Heels with 11 points in the final 20 minutes.
That run made it a 5-point game.
Later, a triple from senior guard RJ Davis made it just a 2-point deficit with over 6-and-a-half minutes gone in the half.
Shortly after, the lead was cut to 1 with a converted and-1 from North Carolina junior guard Seth Trimble. The Tar Heels then took the lead with a steal that led to a fastbreak basket.
But Michigan State wasn't deterred. The Spartans went on an 8-0 run to put themselves back up with 10:42 to go in regulation.
The two teams battled the rest of the way, and the Tar Heels wouldn't go away.
After leading by 8 with 4-and-a-half minutes to go in regulation, it was all North Carolina the rest of the half, as the Spartans wouldn't make a single field goal until overtime.
Michigan State held a 3-point lead with just 13 seconds remaining in regulation, but a clutch triple from Trimble would tie the game and eventually force overtime.
Despite having essentially blown a victory in regulation, Michigan State made it clear it had no intentions of letting this one slip away in overtime.
The Spartans jumped out to a 4-point lead early in overtime, but North Carolina continued to fight, stringing together 5 straight points to take the lead with 2:44 to go.
Then Booker happened.
The second-year Spartan scored 4 straight points, giving his team a 3-point lead with almost a minute-and-a-half to go. He finished the game with 12 points despite not scoring in the first half.
Michigan State hung on the rest of the way to pull off the upset.
The Spartans improve to 7-2 and will return to action next week to start Big Ten play with a road matchup against Minnesota on Wednesday.
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