Field Level Media
Jan 21, 2019
Michigan State has spent plenty of time on the road in recent weeks, and a return home on Monday for a Top 25 battle was just the welcome back the Spartans wanted.
Kenny Goins produced 14 points and 12 rebounds to lead No. 6 Michigan State to a 69-55 victory over No. 13 Maryland in East Lansing, Mich.
The Spartans (17-2, 8-0 Big Ten) picked up their 12th consecutive victory while snapping the Terrapins' seven game-winning streak.
Cassius Winston overcame a 5-of-13 shooting night to score 14 points for the Spartans. Freshman Aaron Henry added a career-high 12 points while Matt McQuaid and Xavier Tillman scored 10 points apiece for Michigan State.
Junior Nick Ward, who got in early foul trouble, was held scoreless for the first time in his Michigan State career.
Aaron Wiggins scored 15 off the bench to lead Maryland (16-4, 7-2). Bruno Fernando scored 12 points and grabbed 13 rebounds while Darryl Morsell scored 10. Anthony Cowan was limited to seven points on 3-for-12 shooting.
The first half was a battle of runs as Michigan State struck first, outscoring Maryland 15-2 to take an 18-6 lead. The Terrapins responded, though, by scoring the next nine and capping a 14-2 run with a Jalen Smith jumper with 4:20 left in the half to tie the game at 20-20.
The Spartans responded, however, and scored the final 11 points of the half to take a 31-20 lead into the locker room.
Both teams went through difficult stretches shooting the ball. The Terps missed 10 straight as Michigan State was busy building its early 12-point lead. The Spartans then made 1 of 8 shots during Maryland's run, the only bucket coming on a Tillman dunk in transition.
Michigan State kept the momentum rolling as the second half began, getting a quick triple from Winston to cap a 14-0 run that spanned the intermission and made it 34-20. Minutes later, the Spartans took off on a 10-0 surge to grab a 48-26 lead after a 3-pointer from Goins with 15:26 to play.
Maryland began to chip away, however, sinking three 3-pointers and eventually whittling the deficit to 54-42. But the Spartans responded once again, pushing the lead to 61-45 after a transition layup from Kyle Ahrens with 8:08 to play.
Five straight from the Terrapins trimmed the advantage to 11 with more than five minutes to play, but Michigan State responded by scoring the next six to go up 67-50 with 4:28 left in the game.
The lead eventually was pushed to 69-50 as Michigan State put the game away.
--Field Level Media