World News – USA – Michigan state beat Detroit Mercy 83-76 against Rocket Watts’ top 23 points

East Lansing – Maybe the state of Michigan was still contemplating its victory over Duke. Or maybe Detroit Mercy will be a tough team this season.

Whatever it was at the Breslin Center on Friday night, the Spartans needed everything they needed to get past the Titans. They rallied in the second half and then held on to an 83-76 win.

Rocket Watts reached a career high of 23 and led No.. 8 Michigan State (4-0) who had not played against Detroit Mercy since 2001. Gabe Brown scored 16 for the Spartans while Aaron Henry had 12 points and 10 rebounds, with Joey Hauser scoring 10 points.

Antoine Davis scored 24 (0-1) for Detroit Mercy, who played their first game after the first three seasons were canceled due to COVID-19. Matt Johnson added 20 points for the Titans while Bul Kuol scored 12 points and Marquell Fraser scored 11 points.

The slack was clear early on when the state of Michigan opened a 22-14 lead. The Spartans missed several simple looks and did not take good care of the ball. By the end of the half they had flipped it 10 times and according to the shot map, they had gone 4 versus 13 on layups.

Henry was 6-1, missing multiple shots around the hoop, while Joey Hauser and Thomas Kithier were a combined 5-0 in the first half.

Detroit Mercy took advantage and put together a 12-2 run to create a 26-25 advantage over a Davis jumper. Michigan State scored five straight goals to regain the lead, but at that moment the Titans proved they were there for a fight. They linked the game at 35 following a setback from Willy Isiani and only missed the chance to lead in half when Davis’ long 3-pointer on the buzzer ricocheted off the edge.

The state of Michigan had a big spark to open the second half when Hauser scored seven direct points and a Watts jumper put the Spartans 46:41 ahead. But the Titans got two direct 3-points from Johnson and ended up taking a 51-50 lead with two free throws from Davis, adding two more to Johnson when Johnson faced a 12:20 runner. The Detroit lead grew to 59-54 after two rounds in Michigan, before Watts scored our consecutive hits to pull the Spartans within one.

But Isiani scored a three on next possession to give Detroit Mercy an 8:34 lead.

At that point, Michigan state returned and linked the game with 62 against a Watts runner when he scored eight points in a row. The Spartans went back forward with two consecutive buckets of Brown and later pushed the lead to 78-72 in the half after a Henry put-back. Detroit Mercy drew within two and had a chance to tie, but Davis’s throwback fell short and the Spartans got a dunk from Julius Marble and a triple in the corner from Brown to postpone the game.

Detroit Mercy Titans Men’s Basketball, Michigan State Spartans Men’s Basketball, University of Detroit Mercy, Michigan State Spartans Women’s Basketball, Big Ten Conference, Basketball, Tom Izzo