The No. 12 Spartans narrowly avoided another early season loss in their fourth game away from home in the last five, overcoming an astounding 73 percent first-half 3-point shooting performance by The Citadel and escaping Charleston, S.C., with a 69-56 win.

“First half, nobody played very good defense,” MSU head coach Tom Izzo told the Spartan Sports Network after the game. “At one point, they were 6-for-6 and it was just getting worse. A couple of those shots were tough shots, too.”

The Bulldogs’ always-looming threat from deep was introduced in the Spartans’ 79-65 win last year in East Lansing, but it is doubtful even MSU’s Big Ten-best 3-point defense could have slowed The Citadel from deep.

“I think they thought we were the Japanese and they were going to get back at us for Pearl Harbor,” Izzo lamented of the small Southern military school. “They were just making shot after shot.”

The Spartans (7-2) successfully countered the home team’s early perimeter perfection with domination in the post, outscoring the Citadel 16-4 in the paint in the first half. On the night, MSU outrebounded the Bulldogs 35-16 and outscored them 20-0 on second-chance opportunities.

Senior forward Raymar Morgan chipped in his fourth consecutive notable performance, with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Morgan, who often has been criticized of underachieving while enduring injury and sickness the last three years, is averaging more than 16 points per game in the Spartans’ last four contests.

MSU went into the break leading 40-36, as The Citadel’s consistent deep threat kept the Bulldogs (6-5) nipping at the Spartans’ heels throughout. But a 14-6 second half run gave the Spartans some distance heading into a timeout with about five minutes to go in the contest.

The Bulldogs came back with a 3-pointer out of the break, but junior guard Kalin Lucas responded with one of his own — part of a game-high 17 points — to maintain the Spartans’ advantage.

“We took the break off and we started executing better in our half court,” Izzo said. “We built (the lead) from three, to five, to seven. We just weren’t making good enough decisions. We weren’t executing well enough and then we did and that really helped.”

The Bulldogs are now 0-5 all-time at home against The Associated Press Top 25 teams and 0-33 overall. MSU returns home for a stretch, including a meeting with Oakland 7 p.m. Thursday at Breslin Center.