In the annual intrastate matchup game that was sadly devoid of ugly Christmas sweaters this year, Michigan State avoided an upset minded Oakland to move back above .500 on the season. The Spartans outran the Golden Grizzlies in a 79-62 victory Monday night at the Breslin Center to improve to 6-5 on the year (0-2 Big Ten).

MSU scored 20 of its 79 points via the fast break, and led the entire game.

Tyson Walker yet again was the points leader of the Spartans with 14 on the night and earning his spot in the 1,000 point club of East Lansing. Walker also added five assists, good for second on the team, two rebounds, and a steal, tying five other Spartans for the lead in takeaways.

A.J. Hoggard and Jaden Akins both added 11 apiece for MSU players in double figures, while Hoggard led in helpers with seven, and added a block. Akins led MSU in blocks with two, matching the junior guard's season high against Georgia Southern.

Mady Sissoko and Carson Cooper led the Spartans on the glass with eight boards apiece, Cooper and Sissoko were also a perfect 3-for-3 each from the field, totaling seven points each.

Trey Townsend led all scorers on the night with 17 points, while Rocket Watts notched 16 in his return to the Breslin Center, and Blake Lampman added 12 for Oakland players in double figures.

MSU got off to a sluggish start on the night, but was still able to get on the scoreboard first. After four misses combined by both teams to open the game, Mady Sissoko finally struck home on the back end of a pair of free throws to make it 1-0, MSU. The Spartans maintained a lead over the Golden Grizzlies for the rest of the night.

Just a minute of game play after Sissoko's free throw, Jaden Akins saw fit to welcome former Spartan Rocket Watts by blocking his shot and then hitting a trey to lift MSU to a 6-0 advantage. Oakland dug in and narrows it down to a 8-7 Spartan advantage by the first media timeout and 15:12 remaining in the first half.

Michigan State used a 7-0 run to push it back out to 15-7, capped off by a put-back dunk from Cooper a little before the midway point of the half.

MSU struggled against the Oakland zone during the stretch, despite the score advantage. By the final media timeout of the first half, the Spartans were just 9-for-25 from the field, though the team was also just 2-for-7 from 3-point range as well. Still, MSU led 23-19 with just 3:44 left until halftime.

Coming out of the media timeout, Michigan State started to really push the fast break as a solution to breaking Oakland's zone. The Spartans scored three-straight utilizing it and finally opening up a double digit lead for the first time in the game before the Grizzlies managed to respond. At the half, MSU was in the lead 30-22.

Coming out of the locker room, MSU quickly pushed its lead back up to double figures. The Spartans pushed their advantage to 13 twice, but Oakland was able to respond each time to cut it back to 11, trailing 39-28 by the first media timeout.

After the Grizzlies cut it back to single digits less than a minute later, it was yet another media timeout with 15:56 remaining and the score now 39-30. Coming out of the timeout, MSU would not let it get that close for the rest of the night, though. The Spartans used a 12-1 run to push their lead to 20, holding a 51-31 advantage capped off by a jumper from Jeremy Fears, Jr. with 12:38 left. Soon after the under 12 media timeout, even Xavier Booker got in on the fun with a trey of his own to make it 60-37 MSU.

Michigan State eventually saw its lead grow to as much as 27 in the last half of the second half. Oakland managed to put the work in and whittle it back down in the final five minutes of action. In the final minute, the Grizzlies managed to trim it down to a 15-point deficit on a pair of free throws by DQ Cole before a jumper by Fears gave fans the final score of 79-62.

The Spartans return to the Breslin Center looking to make it three-straight wins when Stony Brook visits on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time with the game exclusively streaming on B1G+.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Join the discussion on this article in our premium forums by clicking here.

You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Threads, TikTok, and Instagram.

For video content, including our Red Cedar Radar podcast, find us on YouTube and consider subscribing.