The No. 9 men’s basketball team came back from 10 points down at halftime to defeat No. 20 BYU, 68-61, Saturday in Salt Lake City.

The Cougars (7-2 overall) went into the locker room at halftime with a comfortable 35-25 lead – shooting 60.9 percent from the field and 5-for-10 from behind the 3-point arc, compared to 0-for-7 for MSU.

The Spartans (8-1) blitzed back into the game, going on a 16-5 run in the first 8:30 of the second half.

With 15 minutes to play, junior center Goran Suton layed the ball in to give MSU its first lead, 39-38, since the first 30 seconds of the game.

But BYU guard Jimmer Fredette ended the MSU run after burying a 30-foot 3-pointer with just seconds remaining on the shot clock.

Sophomore forward Raymar Morgan responded with a slam dunk off a miss from senior guard Drew Neitzel.

Both teams continued to battle back and forth the remainder of the game with 10 lead changes until senior center Drew Naymick gave MSU a go-ahead basket off a jump shot with just over five minutes to play.

MSU never looked back, shooting clutch from the free-throw line down the stretch and securing the lead until the final buzzer sounded, outscoring BYU in the second half, 43-26.

Four Spartans scored in double figures, including 12 from junior guard Travis Walton. Walton scored eight of the final 11 Spartans’ points – six of those coming from perfect shooting from the free-throw line.

Neitzel, who had just two points off two shots in the first half, scored 13 points after intermission. Morgan added 15 points of his own, along with seven rebounds, all on the offensive end.

Suton tallied up a double-double, ending the game with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

With more than 16,000 fans at EnergySolutions Arena, a “neutral site,” MSU fought to establish an offense over thousands of screaming BYU fans.

Center Trent Plaisted finished with a game-high 17 points for BYU, while Fredette added 12.

A low-shooting percentage and turnovers became a problem early-on for MSU – as head coach Tom Izzo’s squad shot 30 percent from the field with nine turnovers in the first half.

Despite BYU’s overall dominance, MSU didn’t give an inch when it came to pulling down rebounds, as the Spartans outrebounded the Cougars 37-29.