Michigan State Surges In Second Half Past The Citadel, 82-56

EAST LANSING (AP) — Denzel Valentine scored 18 points and keyed Michigan State's second-half surge to pull away from The Citadel 82-56 on Monday night.

Matt Costello had 13 points, Marvin Clark Jr. 12 and Gavin Schilling 11 for the balanced Spartans (9-4), who didn't allow a field goal for 14:13 and had a 36-2 run after trailing by one late in the first half.

Travis Trice contributed 11 of Michigan State's 23 assists as the winners shot 60.4 percent from the field.

P.J. Horgan scored 19 points and Ashton Moore 15 for the Bulldogs (4-7).

The Spartans struggled for 17 minutes and looked a lot like the team that was stunned by Texas Southern 71-64 in overtime on Saturday.

The last seven points of the first half put Michigan State up 32-26, and the Spartans added 29 more points before The Citadel's next basket, a short turnaround jumper by Horgan with 8:48 left.

Valentine had 11 points in the second half and finished 8 for 11 from the field. Costello, Clark and Schilling made 15 of 24 field-goal tries and led the Spartans to a 34-19 rebound advantage.

The Bulldogs hit 41.7 percent from the field and outshot Michigan State 38.1-36.4 percent from long range. But the Spartans had a 30-3 edge in fast break points and a 28-11 advantage off the bench.

Horgan did all he could, going 7 for 10 from the field and leading his team with five rebounds. That wasn't nearly enough when the track meet began and Michigan State won every race.

---

TIP-INS

The Citadel: The Bulldogs haven't beaten a team from a power conference since an 88-87 win at South Carolina 26 years ago. But late in the first half, it looked as if that date might be relevant.

Michigan State: After 10 games, the Spartans were leading the nation with 45.6 percent 3-point accuracy. But in the next five halves, they hit just 12 of 48, including 1 for 6 in the first 20 minutes Monday.

UP NEXT

The Citadel hosts Bethune-Cookman Dec. 30 in nonconference play.

Michigan State hosts Maryland Dec. 30 in the Terrapins' first Big Ten game.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.