Jeremy Fears Jr. scored 19 of his career-high 23 points in the first half to lead No. 12 Michigan State to an 81-60 home win over Indiana in a Big Ten contest on Tuesday.
Fears went 8 of 14 from the field and added 10 assists for Michigan State (15-2, 5-1 Big Ten), which finished a three-game homestand 3-0.
Jaxon Kohler had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Jordan Scott and Kur Teng each added 11 points off the bench for Michigan State.
The Spartans went 8 of 26 from 3-point range (30.8%), but made 19 of 27 from inside the arc and went 19 of 24 from the free-throw line.
Lamar Wilkerson scored 19 points and went 5 of 11 from 3-point range in defeat for Indiana (12-5, 3-3), which dropped its second straight.
Indiana went 10 of 31 from long distance and was outrebounded 37-19 by the Spartans.
The game was tied at 53-53 with 11:19 remaining, but Michigan State pulled ahead with a 19-0 run, taking a 72-53 lead with 5:23 left after a pair of free throws by Carson Cooper.
Indiana went nearly seven minutes without scoring before Tucker DeVries hit a jumper with 4:34 left that ended Michigan State’s run and made it 72-55.
But by then, the damage had been done.
Michigan State continued its surge, scoring nine in a row to grab an 81-55 lead with 2:35 remaining following a Cooper alley-oop.
Trailing 43-35 with 18:52 remaining, Indiana went on a 13-6 run to cut Michigan State’s lead to 49-48 with 15:27 left.
Indiana held a 22-17 lead in the first half, but Michigan State answered with a 9-0 run to take a 26-22 lead with 4:46 remaining until halftime.
The Spartans later went on a 7-0 spurt to grab a 36-27 lead with 2:28 to go in the first half.
Michigan State eventually took a 39-32 lead into the locker room at halftime.
–Field Level Media




