No. 15 Michigan State wallops UCLA as tempers flare late
Jeremy Fears Jr. recorded 16 points and 10 assists and Coen Carr also scored 16 points to help No. 15 Michigan State roll to an 82-59 victory over UCLA on Tuesday night in Big Ten play in East Lansing, Mich.
Carson Cooper had 12 points and seven rebounds and Jordan Scott had 11 points for the Spartans (21-5, 11-4). Jaxon Kohler contributed nine points and 10 rebounds for Michigan State, which lost three of its previous four games.
Tyler Bilodeau scored 22 points and Skyy Clark added 12 off the bench for the Bruins (17-9, 9-6). UCLA lost by an average of 26.5 points on a two-game trip to play Michigan and Michigan State.
The Spartans made a season-best 14 3-pointers in 27 attempts (51.9%). Fears had four of the treys and Scott and Kur Teng knocked down three apiece.
Overall, the Spartans shot 52.7% from the field, and held a 37-27 rebound advantage.
The Bruins connected on 36.8% of their attempts and were 8 of 25 from behind the arc.
Michigan State led by 20 at halftime and UCLA never managed a sustained run in the second half.
A 3-pointer by Teng and Carr's alley-oop dunk off a pass from Fears made it 60-36 with 13:41 remaining.
A bit later, Kohler knocked down a hook shot and Teng drilled a trey to increase the lead to 69-41 with 7:53 left.
Carr followed with a trey to push the lead above 30 for the first time with 7:20 remaining.
Tempers flared with 4:26 remaining when Cooper was driving for a dunk and UCLA's Steven Jamerson II fouled him hard from behind to prevent him from scoring. Cooper got up and lunged at Jamerson before being intercepted while Bruins coach Mick Cronin sent Jamerson to the locker room minutes before the officials issued a Class A technical foul.
Fears scored 11 first-half points as the Spartans led 43-23 at the break.
The Bruins held an early 9-7 lead before Michigan State scored the next eight points and 26 of 29 to lead for good.
Clark's trey brought UCLA within 15-12 with 13:08 remaining before the Spartans scored 18 in a row. Fears and Trey Fort made 3-pointers as Michigan State's lead reached 15 and Scott ended the barrage with consecutive treys to make it 33-12 with 6:10 left.
Donovan Dent's layup ended the Bruins' scoring drought of eight minutes, one second.