EAST LANSING, Mich. — Now comes the break.
Michigan State's difficult open to the season essentially came to an end with Wednesday's victory at Penn State, even though there was one more game on the schedule to close out the week. That came Saturday afternoon against Brown, and Michigan did what it needed to do, earning a 68-50 victory at Breslin Center.
A masterpiece it was not, but the Spartans now get a chance to regroup, get healthy and spend plenty of time on the practice court as they play just twice before the end of the year, hosting Oakland on Dec. 21 and Buffalo on Dec. 30.
On Saturday, things started slowly but eventually Michigan State (7-4) took control behind 22 points from Joey Hauser, who eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career by shooting 9 for 13, including 2 for 4 from 3-point range. Hauser, who scored 329 points at Marquette before transferring, has scored 678 points for Michigan State, giving him a total of 1,007.
A.J. Hoggard followed up a career game at Penn State by scoring 17 and handing out four assists while Tyson Walker chipped in 10 points for the Spartans.
Malachi Ndur scored 10 for Brown (5-5) while Paxon Wojcik, son of Michigan State assistant Doug Wojcik, added 10 for the Bears.
It was a chilly start from the field for both teams as Michigan made two of its first nine shots while Brown opened the game going 3 for 15.
The Spartans began to settle in, scoring seven straight points to take an 18-10 lead on a layup in transition from Walker. They eventually extended the lead to 10 at 24-14 on a Hoggard jumper and took their biggest lead at 32-18 on a 3-pointer from the corner by Jaden Akins.
It was a score that held up heading into halftime as Michigan State overcame a slow start on the glass to outrebound Brown, 26-18, while scoring nine points off four Brown turnovers.
Michigan State started to pull away early in the second half on back-to-back 3-pointers from Hauser and Walker and eventually extended its lead to 46-26 on a pair of free throws from Hoggard with 13:40 to play. Brown scored the next five, though, to keep things interesting.
The Spartans scored the next 11 to regain control of the game as the final five-plus minutes were turned over to the backups.
