Coen Carr came off the bench to produce 18 points and nine rebounds as No. 2 seed Michigan State defeated No. 15 seed Bryant 87-62 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament’s South Region on Friday in Cleveland.
Michigan State will face No. 10 seed New Mexico in the second round on Sunday. The Lobos eliminated No. 7 seed Marquette 75-66 earlier in the evening.
Jase Richardson supplied 15 points and Tre Holloman contributed 14 for the Spartans (28-6). Jeremy Fears Jr. had 11 points and six assists, and Jaden Akins also chipped in 11 points.
The Spartans controlled the boards, outrebounding the Bulldogs 54-29, and had a 31-6 advantage on second-chance points.
“I feel like that’s one of the things we emphasize as a team, trying to go to the glass,” Richardson said. “And I think our bigs and Coen did great going to the glass and getting those second-chance points for us. I mean, they were putting back dunks, kick outs for threes. I feel like that’s a big part of our game because it gives us more chances to get buckets.”
Rafael Pinzon led Bryant (23-12) with 21 points, and Earl Timberlake tossed in 14.
The Bulldogs led 24-21 with five minutes left in the first half after a Keyshawn Mitchell 3-pointer. Michigan State then finished the half on a 12-4 run.
Carr started it with a putback dunk and followed with a three-point play. Frankie Fidler sank a layup, and Richardson hit a 3-pointer to give the Spartans a seven-point lead.
Carr also scored the Spartans’ last bucket of the half on another putback dunk, but Timberlake answered with a layup to cut the Spartans’ lead to 33-28 entering halftime.
Carr led Michigan State at the break with 15 points, while Timberlake topped Bryant with eight points.
“Dynamic, dynamic athlete,” Bryant coach Phil Martelli Jr. said of Carr. “The way he sprints the floor, crashes the glass. He was able to get those offensive rebounds, a couple of them like we had to help, and now you’ve got this guy crashing from the corner, the wing, and we’d have to be perfectly on time to get there to keep him off the glass, and we just weren’t. We were a step slow, or we just didn’t get there.”
Akins made a 3-pointer with 18 minutes left to give the Spartans a 39-33 lead. After a Bryant miss, Fears knocked down a trey to extend the gap to nine points.
Another Carr putback nudged the advantage to double digits. The Bulldogs pulled within six, but the Spartans pushed the lead to 10 when Richardson fired in a 3-pointer.
Holloman’s 3-pointer with 10:54 left gave Michigan State a 57-46 lead, and two free throws by Fears made it a 13-point spread. Akins’ layup with 7:54 remaining extended the advantage to 65-49.
Holloman’s 3-pointer with 5:46 remaining increased the margin to 20 points.
–Field Level Media
