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The Michigan State Spartans defeated the Maryland Terrapins 77-67 on senior day on Sunday, giving the program’s seniors the chance to go out with a win at home. The victory, during which Michigan State never trailed, was the Spartans’ 20th of the season. Junior Malik Hall led the way with 17 points.
The starting lineup for the Spartans consisted of junior Tyson Walker, freshman Max Christie and seniors Gabe Brown, Joey Hauser and Marcus Bingham Jr.
The Spartans got off to an incredible start, scoring the first 14 points of the game on their way to an 18-1 lead heading into the under-12-minute timeout in the first half. Michigan State continued to pour it on to close the first half, going into halftime leading 46-26. Bingham was a force for the Spartans, scoring 12 points on 4-for-4 shooting, including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and grabbing nine rebounds in the first half.
Maryland was by no means out of the game, however. The Terrapins went on a 7-0 run to start the second half and at one point found themselves down just three points following a massive 22-5 run with just over seven minutes to play.
Brown proceeded to score the next seven points in the game, followed by Hall scoring seven-straight for the Spartans to put the Terrapins away.
The victory allowed the Spartans the opportunity to finish their seniors’ final home game on a good note. Michigan State honored four seniors, Brown, Hauser, Bingham and Ferris State transfer Michael Peterson.
Michigan State fans have an additional reason to celebrate the win, as it gave head coach Tom Izzo his 663rd victory at the helm of MSU, breaking a tie with legendary Indiana Hoosiers head coach Bob Knight for the most wins at a Big Ten school.
The Spartans are now looking ahead to Indianapolis, where they will play in the Big Ten Conference Tournament, which begins on March 9 and runs until March 13, when the selections for the NCAA Championship Tournament will be announced. Michigan State will play Maryland once again on Thursday.