Green Bay was able to match MSU’s tempo shot-for-shot through much of the first half, but two big scoring runs made the game ugly quick as the Spartans (9-2) disposed of the Horizon League Phoenix (6-6) at the Breslin Center on Sunday, 104-83.

Though the win was MSU’s third time surpassing the century mark, coach Tom Izzo wasn’t satisfied with the product on the floor.

“Today we did not finish and we are going to address that,” Izzo said. “.... We had some goals for what we hold teams to defensively. We blew that. What we hold them from three point line. We blew that. What we hold them to in total points. We blew that.”

Forward Nick Ward was one of six Spartans to reach double-figure scoring and led all scorers with a career best 28 points. Cassius Winston scored 16, Joshua Langford scored 13 and Matt McQuaid finished with 12 points.Freshmen Gabe Brown and Foster Loyer each had career nights as well, posting 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Ward finished shooting 12-of-13 from the floor in 26 minutes and tied Kenny Goins with nine boards for the team lead. It marks the fifth 20-plus point game of the season for the junior forward and clipped his previous career-high 26-point performance against Iowa on Dec. 3.

“He moves better than what you'd think,” Green Bay coach Linc Darner said of Ward. “He's a load down low. We knew he was going left, everybody in the country knows he's going left and it's still hard to stop.”

Sandy Cohen III led Green Bay with 22 points and was one of four Phoenix players to reach double figures. JayQuan McCloud scored 17, Kameron Hankerson scored 11 and Manny Patterson scored 10.

Green Bay opened the game shooting 5-of-7 from the field to take an 11-7 lead, which grew to a 24-20 edge with 13:04 till halftime after 3-pointers from Cohen, McCloud and PJ Pipes and a jumper from Cohen. Cohen’s jumper, however, was Green Bay’s only score until the 6:27 mark, in which the Spartans opened up a 16-0 run — capped by nine straight points from Ward — to take a 36-24 lead. 

“You stay in games if you can play defense, so I'm actually prouder of him with his defensive stuff,” Izzo said of Ward. “Yet, second half today, we started getting sloppy. If you wonder why he's out sometimes, it's either the free throw shooting or the defense.”

Later in the half, Ward again strung three consecutive scores to ignite a 14-1 scoring run, lasting the final 2:32 , and gave the Spartans a 64-35 lead at the half, and the highest first-half total for MSU this season. 

Izzo said the team failed to keep Green Bay from scoring through most of the second half, though the Phoenix’s last relevant offensive stretch of the game ended with 5:26 to play after back-to-back 3’s from McCloud helped Green Bay in a 9-0 scoring run. 

Both teams exchanged scores through much of the early part of the half and Izzo felt the Spartans lacked any defensive mettle. Most of that had to do with players keeping each other accountable Izzo stated

“That's hard to do, especially in this day and age, where everybody takes everything so personal,” Izzo said.

Players know Izzo is keen on upperclassmen leadership, and as conference play looms, know the importance of trying to figure it out as quickly as possible.

“Josh can get on me whenever he needs to, I know I can get on him whenever I need to,” McQuaid said. “We got to do a better job, (Cassius) too and Nick too, all the upperclassmen, of keeping everybody accountable. I feel like we really have to focus on that this week to be a better team.”

Forward Xavier Tillman capped MSU’s 14-1 first-half run with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer, which sent the Spartans into the locker room on a high note and MSU fans into a frenzy. 

For Tillman, who’s played primarily as a stretch center, it marked the second triple of his career and first since MSU’s 101-33 win against Tennessee Tech on Nov. 18.

“That was crazy, wasn’t it,” Winston said, smiling. “I just, I didn’t expect that to happen. That was a crazy series. … he knew it was good. He saw it in like he just hit those all the time.”

MSU is off until it hosts Horizon League opponent Oakland (4-7) at the Breslin Center on Dec. 21, with tipoff at 7 p.m. The Spartans are 16-0 all-time against the Grizzlies.

With another five days off until their next game, Langford said the upcoming practices can’t be overlooked.

“Just because we know we’re about to go on Christmas break, still understand that we have four days of practice left and we have a game coming up,” he said. “We have to be there, be present and take advantage of these days because once the Big Ten season starts, we’re just going to hit the ground.”