The men's basketball team couldn't maintain a strong start against Penn State but managed to hold on to the lead, taking a 30-28 advantage into halftime.
Senior forward Branden Dawson leads MSU with nine points, five boards and a block. Sophomore forward Gavin Schilling has seven points and six rebounds.
On the other side, senior guard D.J. Newbill and junior forward Brandon Taylor each have nine points.
The Spartans started the game on an energetic note, as senior guard Travis Trice found Dawson for an alley-oop slam shortly after MSU won the tip for the first points of the night.
MSU got off to a solid start, locking down Penn State defensively to start the game 10-2. The Nittany Lions made only one of their 10 nine attempts, and that shot was a breakaway dunk following a turnover.
Taylor drained a 3-pointer to snap a six-and-a-half minute scoring draught at the 12:18 mark and trim MSU's lead to 10-5.
Another 3-pointer from Taylor narrowed MSU's lead to four, but Trice found Schilling for a dunk to extend the lead to 16-10 with 9:16 on the clock.
Newbill drove to the rim for a layup to trim MSU's lead to three less than two minutes later. Another layup at the 7:10 mark cut MSU's lead to one, 16-15.
Despite Penn State's slow start, both teams were 6-of-17 from the field at the 6:23 mark of the game.
The Spartans managed to maintain the lead. Trice lobbed to Schilling for a highlight alley-oop at the 4:15 mark, putting the Spartans up 26-22.
Freshman guard Lourawls Nairn dished a beautiful assist to Dawson behind-the-back for a layup to push the lead to five.
A pair of free throws Newbill narrowed MSU's lead to two entering halftime.
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