Michigan State gets past Oakland Golden Grizzlies, 86-73

DETROIT – Oakland brought the fight. Miles Bridges came up swinging but was held back.

A hard foul by Chris Palombizio on the Michigan State star preventing a breakaway dunk nearly turned things testy in the second game of the Hitachi College Basketball Showcase.

Bridges hit a 3-pointer to swing momentum with about 6 minutes left, and Cassius Winston scored the Spartans’ final 14 points as No. 2 MSU held off the scrappy Golden Grizzlies 86-73 on Saturday in front of the largest crowd in the brief history of Little Caesers Arena (20,695).

Winston finished with 19 points and six rebounds in his homecoming, but he also had six of the Spartans’ 17 turnovers. Joshua Langford added 17 points, while Nick Ward had 15 points and 15 rebounds. Bridges finished with 11 points on just 3 of 10 shooting.

Oakland (6-5) became the fifth opponent this season to make 10-or-more 3-pointers on the Spartans (10-1), led by 32 from Kendrick Nunn, 14 from Jalen Hayes and 13 from Martez Walker.

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Getting sloppy

MSU had things under control for most of the first half, taking a 31-19 lead with a 9-0 run before until getting out of control.

The Spartans committed five turnovers in the last 5:04 of the half as the Grizzlies switched to a zone defense, and Oakland scored five points off the giveaways and got 10 free throws to pull within 38-33 at halftime.

MSU came out at the start of the second half and continued to struggle to move the ball against the 2-3 zone, turning it over four more times in the first 6 minutes.

Meanwhile, Oakland’s Nunn – who did not start due to an ankle injury – hit three 3-pointers in that stretch, including one with 14:23 left that put the Grizzlies in front 55-52.

It went back and forth from there, with the hard foul on Bridges sparking a 9-3 run by MSU. But Oakland responded and tied it at 66-66 on Hayes’ 3-pointer with 7:58 to play.

But Jaren Jackson Jr. hit a 3-pointer as MSU hit four times behind the arc – Bridges, then two from Winston – to go back up by 10.

What’s next

The Spartans host Houston Baptist on Monday (6 p.m./Big Ten Network) and Long Beach State on Thursday (7 p.m./BTN Plus).

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Download our Spartans Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!