MSU men's basketball (4-4) returned home to begin their five game home stand against Oral Roberts (1-6). At the half, the Spartans lead 34-33.
MSU struggled to get on the board early. Taking almost four minutes for their first basket, the Spartans had a tough time filling the 16.6 point scoring gap left by the injury of freshman forward Miles Bridges.
Upon the first media timeout, the Spartans trailed 6-2. Shooting just 1-7, the Spartans struggled to find open shots. When the Spartans had open looks, they defaulted to shot fakes and dribble drives, which failed to show dividends.
At the 11:51 minute mark, the Spartans started to slowly climb back, just trailing by one, 10-9. The freshmen began to carry the Spartans, with a three-point field goal by guard Joshua Langford and a dribble drive layup by guard Cassius Winston which yielded a conversion at the charity strike. Winston would hit two late threes and a floater in the lane to end the half the leading MSU scorer with 11 points.
In the latter 10 minutes, MSU began launching threes. In one possession, senior guard Alvin Ellis III took two three-pointers and fifth-year senior guard Eron Harris attempted one as well. All three clanked out. MSU finished the half shooting 5-15 from three-point territory.
It took until the last six minutes for the Spartans to get in somewhat of an offensive flow, beginning with two straight post up layups by freshman forward Nick Ward. However, MSU was quickly answered and trailed 24-23 with 3:44 remaining in the half.
Both teams struggled to secure rebounds on the defensive end. At the end on the half, MSU had secured five offensive rebounds, Oral Roberts with nine. This season, Oral Roberts averages just over nine offensive rebounds per game.
The Golden Eagles' leading scorer of the year, forward Albert Owens, started with a quick hook shot. However, for the remainder of the half, Owens was held to 1-8 shooting, finishing with four points.
In the absence of Bridges, sophomore forward Kyle Ahrens made his first start of the season. In his starting role debut, Ahrens played stout defense in his nine minutes, but didn't provide a threat on the offensive end with two points.
What kept MSU close in the first half, was their ability to block shots. On one occasion, red-shirt sophomore Kenny Goins chased down court to emphatically reject Oral Roberts guard Kris Martin.
A win against Oral Roberts would improve MSU's record to 44-3 against non-conference home games since December of 2010.
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