Matt Lopez led Rider with 14 points and five rebounds.

MSU jumped out to a good start against Rider, draining back-to-back 3-pointers in the early minutes.

Trice and freshman forward Marvin Clark filled it up from distance, helping MSU to a 16-6 lead just over eight minutes into the half.

Despite 10 first half turnovers from MSU, Rider couldn’t hang with the Spartans. The Broncos shot 4-of-29 from the field and didn’t hit double digits until just over two minutes remained in the second half.

After missing the last game due to illness, senior forward Branden Dawson played ten minutes in the half. Dawson picked up six rebounds and drew a Rider intentional foul after stealing a pass and finishing in transition at the other end.

MSU continued to display good ball movement in the second half, and finished the game shooting 50 percent, both from the floor and from downtown.

Valentine drained back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Spartans a 25 point lead at the beginning of the second half. It became a 35 point lead, 56-21, roughly five minutes later after an athletic one-handed putback dunk by Schilling.

Senior guard Keenan Wetzel saw time later in the half, and drained a corner 3-pointer after a drive-and-kick from Valentine to give the Spartans a 63-30 lead with 8:23 on the clock. Valentine's fifth 3-pointer with just over 5:30 remaining made it 70-36.

Freshman guard Lourawls Nairn Jr. was the last Spartan to register a point after splitting a trip to the line with 2:10 remaining, giving MSU a 77-43 lead.

The Spartans will face the winner of Marquette/Georgia Tech on Friday at 9 p.m.