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Detroit Mercy opened their season at the Breslin Center and they came out swinging, looking for a fight. The upset-minded Titans matched Michigan State’s scoring from the tip-off and wouldn’t go away, but A late Spartans run helped Michigan State pull away late, winning 83-76.
Titans head coach Mike Davis was familiar with the idea of coming into the Breslin Center to knock off Michigan State, he was the head man at Texas Southern who upset the Spartans in 2016. Davis led the Titans with a strong gameplan to try and knock off MSU, which worked for a while, but in the end, wasn’t enough.
The Spartans and the Titans spent the majority of the first half trading buckets with one another. This trend continued into the second half until about 9:36 left, the Spartans trailed 59-54 and needed a spark, that’s when Rocket Watts got two big buckets back to back. Watts sparked a 12-2 run over the next four minutes of game action to allow MSU to regain a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Gabe Brown helped spurn any type of Detroit comeback, scoring 10 of his 16 points down the stretch and in big moments late in the game. Julius Marble also did his part in stifling any comeback attempts with 7 of his 9 point effort coming within the last five minutes of the game.
Rocket Watts led the way in scoring again, pushing the Spartans to the finish line, with 23 points on 8-for-14 shooting. Aaron Henry added a double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Joey Hauser was in double figures again as well with 10 points.
The Spartans look to stay undefeated when they face Western Michigan on Sunday at 6 p.m. EST.
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