Michigan Tech managed to cut into the lead once more as guard Brandon Ball went to the line and hit one free throw, but Suton nailed a wide-open three pointer — the only one made by the Spartans in the game — to bump the lead to 55-49.

Suton stepped it up on the defensive end in the final minutes as well, stealing a pass under the Michigan Tech basket with just over a minute remaining. The next time down the floor senior guard Drew Neitzel found him wide open under the basket to make the lead 57-49, as the Spartans iced the game at the free throw line the rest of the way.

After a back and forth first half which saw five ties and four lead changes, the Spartans went on an 11-3 run to end the half, and continued the scoring spree early into the second half. The Spartans extended their lead to 38-29 off a Durrell Summers alley-oop slam off a pass from fellow freshman guard Chris Allen coming out of a timeout, before the Huskies rallied back in the middle of the half.

“Kalin Lucas played very, very well, I was amazed at how hard he played defensively.” MSU head coach Tom Izzo said of his freshman guard, who led the Spartans with 16 points, two assists and four steals.

Neitzel struggled from the field for the second consecutive game, scoring 10 points on 5-15 shooting.

“Drew is just struggling,” Izzo said. “I’m not over worried about it. He’s been a shooter his whole life, he had good shots, he just didn’t make them.”

Lucas was entered in the starting lineup in place of sophomore forward Raymar Morgan, who sat out the game for academic reasons. Morgan is listed as eligible and Izzo said he expected Morgan to play next week in the season opening game against Chicago State in the CBE Classic.