Seven Players in Double Figures as Michigan State Uses Late Run to Move Past Bowling Green, 86-72

East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State's men's basketball team used an 18-0 run over the final seven minutes of the second half and came back to beat Bowling Green, 86-72, at the Breslin Center on Saturday night.

Seven players scored in double figures for the Spartans, with senior guard Jaden Akins recording his first career double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds, while adding six assists and two steals.

Senior forward Frankie Fidler scored 12 points and had three rebounds and junior center Carson Cooper set a career-best with 12 points, sophomore forward Coen Carr had 11 points and five rebounds, junior guard Tre Holloman added 11 points, three assists and four blocks, sophomore guard Jeremy Fears Jr. finished with 10 points and five assists and junior forward Jaxon Kohler had 10 points and three rebounds.

Records
Michigan State improves to 3-1 overall while Bowling Green falls to 1-3 overall.

Recap

Michigan State trailed by 12 points (40-28) late in the first half, tied it at 43-all at the break and took a five-point lead (50-45) early in the second half after free throws from senior Frankie Fidler (17:13).
The Spartans still led 54-50 after Cooper made a pair of free throws with 15:49 left, but Bowling Green responded with a 14-2 run over 4:12 and took a 64-56 lead on a layup from Jamai Felt with 10:53 left to play.
Michigan State countered, using a 10-0 run over 1:32 and taking a 66-64 lead on back-to-back dunks from Carr, the latter at 9:13, forcing the Falcons to call a timeout.
The Falcons responded again and took a 70-68 lead on a fast break layup from Javontae Campbell with 7:30 to play and extended it to 72-68 on free throws from Campbell at the 7:11 mark.
Those would be the last points for Bowling Green, as a dunk from Cooper (72-70, 6:55), a free throw from Carr (72-71, 6:11) and a layup from Carr (73-72, 5:37) gave MSU the lead for good.
Carr followed with a tip-in dunk to extend the margin to 75-72 and Akins hit a 3-pointer to give MSU a 78-72 lead with 3:46 left.
Fears pushed the lead to eight points, 80-72, with 2:08 left on a driving layup and the Spartans hit six free throws in the final 1:05 to seal the win.
The Spartans went into the half tied at 43-all after trailing by as much as 12 points (40-28) during the opening 20 minutes.
A dunk from Szymon Zapala off the opening tip gave MSU the early lead but Bowling Green's Marcus Johnson hit a trio of shots and three free throws from Youssef Khayat gave the Falcons a 15-6 lead at the 16:13 mark.
A layup from Bowling Green's Trey Thomas gave the visitors a 32-22 lead at 8:46 before baskets from Akins and Kohler pulled MSU to within 34-28 at 7:05.
The Falcons responded with six-straight points to take their biggest lead of the half, 40-28, on a jumper from Khayat at the 4:07 mark.
The Spartans out-scored Bowling Green 15-3 over the final 3:51 and tied the game at 43-all on a layup from Holloman with three seconds left.

Key Stats

Bowling Green shot 54.8 percent from the floor in the first half (17-of-31) but went 32.3 percent from the floor in the second half (10-of-31).
Michigan State shot 45.8 percent from the floor (27-of-59), hitting 59.0 percent of its 2-point shots (23-of-39).
The Spartans out-rebounded Bowling Green, 42-28, including 25-14 in the second half.
Michigan State shot 87.5 percent from the free throw line (28-of-32).
MSU's bench out-scored Bowling Green's, 37-6.

Notes

Michigan State has an all-time record of 12-3 against Bowling Green.
The Spartans have won the six meetings in the series.
MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo is 5-0 all-time against the Falcons.
Izzo won his 710th career game and has an all-time record of 710-296.
Michigan State is now 3-0 when out-shooting its opponent.
The Spartans have a 3-0 record when controlling the boards.
This was the third time this season the Spartans have scored at least 80 points (3-0).
Seven players scored in double figures for the Spartans … this was the first time an MSU team had seven players score at least 10 points since a win over Oakland on Dec. 13, 2020.
Jaden Akins had his first career double-double, finishing the night with a team-high 13 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, while adding a career-best 6 assists.
- It was his third game in double figures scoring this year and the 37th of his career.
- It was his second career game with at least 10 rebounds.
Carson Cooper set a new career-high with 12 points.
- He hit a career-best 4 field goals and tied his career best with 4 free throws.
Frankie Fidler has scored in double figures in three-straight games.
- He has reached double figures three times this season and 78 times in his career.
- This was the 14th time in his career that Fidler connected on at least 10 free throws in a game.
- He connected on 10-of-10 free throws in the game, just the third MSU player in the last 10 years perfect from the line with at least 10 attempts (Adreian Payne, vs. Delaware, 3/20/14, 17-of-17; Tyson Walker, vs. Indiana State, 12/30/23, 10-of-10).
Tre Holloman finished with 11 points, his second game in double figures this year and the seventh of his career.
Coen Carr scored 11 points, his first game in double figures this year and the third of his career.
Jaxon Kohler made his first career start.
- Kohler finished with 10 points, his third-straight game in double figures and the fifth game of his career with at least 10 points.

Up Next
Michigan State continues a two-game homestand, hosting Samford on Tuesday, Nov. 19 at the Breslin Center (8 p.m., Peacock).

Players Mentioned

Jaden Akins

Coen Carr

Carson Cooper

Jeremy Fears Jr.

Frankie Fidler

Tre Holloman

Jaxon Kohler

Tyson Walker

Szymon Zapala