Tre Holloman scored 12 points, all coming on his 4 of 7 shooting on 3-pointers, and No. 7 Michigan State cruised to a 73-51 win over Minnesota in a Big Ten Conference matchup Tuesday night in East Lansing, Mich.
Jaden Akins and Xavier Booker added 10 points each for Michigan State (18-2, 9-0), which won its 13th consecutive game. Carson Cooper scored nine points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and Jaxon Kohler finished with eight points and seven boards.
Dawson Garcia scored 21 points on 9-for-16 shooting to lead Minnesota (11-10, 3-7), which lost its third straight game. Mike Mitchell Jr.,Isaac Asuma and Lu’cye Patterson finished with eight points apiece for the Golden Gophers, who fell short in their bid to knock off a ranked opponent for the third time in the past four games.
Michigan State posted a 40-22 advantage on the glass. The Spartans also dominated in second-chance points (13-4) and points in the paint (30-20).
Minnesota pulled within 56-43 with 6:53 to go when Garcia drew a foul on Kohler and made a pair of free throws.
The Spartans responded with an 8-0 run to increase their advantage to 64-43 with 5:16 remaining. Coen Carr punctuated the run with a dunk and a free throw.
Michigan State surged to a 36-16 lead at the half.
The Spartans sprinted to an 11-3 lead in the first nine minutes and never looked back. Szymon Zapala scored on a layup, Akins made a jump shot and Booker sank another jump shot to mark the first six points of the game.
A 3-pointer by Kohler pushed the Spartans’ lead to 21-8 with 5:39 left in the half.
Holloman drained three consecutive 3-pointers as part of an 11-0 run that put Michigan State on top 32-12 with 1:26 remaining in the half.
Minnesota never led. The Spartans had the lead for 38:54, and the remaining 1:06 was as the teams were tied at 0-0.
–Field Level Media
