Field Level Media
Dec 21, 2018
Cassius Winston scored a season-high 26 points to lead No. 10 Michigan State to a 99-69 nonconference victory over Oakland on Friday night in East Lansing, Mich.
The Spartans (10-2) remain perfect in 17 all-time matchups with the Golden Grizzlies (4-9).
Winston led the Spartans by hitting 10 of 13 field-goal attempts, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range. Nick Ward added 14 points and seven rebounds while Joshua Langford scored 12 for the Spartans.
Oakland entered the game shooting nearly 42 percent from 3-point distance, and used its range to try to stay in the game. The Golden Grizzlies were 13 of 23 from beyond the arc but could not string many together.
Midway through the second half, Michigan State exploded for a 23-3 run that expanded a 12-point lead to 32 with 4:29 to play.
Braden Norris scored 18 points for Oakland, going 6 of 7 from 3-point range, while Xavier Hill-Mais scored 17 but fouled out with more than five minutes left in the game. Jaevin Cumberland scored 13, and Karmari Newman chipped in 11 points.
Michigan State was running and sharing the ball early, opening a 16-point lead in the first half, getting 15 assists on 17 baskets and scoring 16 points in transition. Ward and Winston each scored 10 for the Spartans while Winston had three assists.
Oakland made 5 of 11 3-point tries in the first half, including one at the buzzer from Norris to cut Michigan State's lead to 45-32. Hill-Mais also did a solid job on the block, scoring 13 points in the first half for Oakland.
Early in the second half, a 3-pointer from Langford gave Michigan State its biggest lead at 61-42 with 14:18 to play. But Oakland answered, scoring the next six to cut the margin to 12. However, the run was short-lived as Matt McQuaid hit a 3-pointer, and Winston later scored five straight to help Michigan State push the lead back to 18 with just more than eight minutes to play.
From there, the lead continued to grow as Michigan State took over. The Spartans finished with 13 3-pointers and scored 22 points off 13 Oakland turnovers.
--Field Level Media