No. 8 Michigan State holds off Rutgers to clinch Big Ten triple-bye
Jeremy Fears Jr. had 21 points and eight assists, Coen Carr also scored 21 points and No. 8 Michigan State clinched a triple-bye in next week's Big Ten Tournament by dispatching Rutgers 91-87 on Thursday night at East Lansing, Mich.
Fears moved into third place on the Spartans' single-season assists list with 272. Fears surpassed the legendary Magic Johnson (269 in 1978-79) and stands two shy of second-place Mateen Cleaves (274 in 1998-99).
Jaxon Kohler added 15 points and seven rebounds and Carson Cooper scored 14 points as Michigan State (25-5, 15-4 Big Ten) won its fifth straight game.
Tariq Francis scored 25 points with five assists and three steals for Rutgers (12-18, 5-14), which fell to 0-9 on the road against the Spartans.
Lino Mark scored 14 points and Emmanuel Ogbole added 13 on 6-of-7 shooting before fouling out for the Scarlet Knights.
Rutgers trailed by 15 with 1:19 left before using a 14-3 burst to creep within four. A basket by Francis with 27.6 seconds left and a steal and layup by Kaden Powers with 20.3 seconds remaining brought the Scarlet Knights within 86-82.
Rutgers trailed 89-87 after Darren Buchanan Jr. buried a 3-pointer with 5 seconds remaining. Fears was fouled with 2 seconds left and made both free throws to make it a four-point margin and the Spartans held on.
Michigan State shot 58.5% from the field, including 4 of 12 from 3-point range, and held a 38-21 rebounding advantage.
The Scarlet Knights made 47.7% of their shots and hit 10 of 18 from behind the arc.
The Spartans scored the first seven points of the second half to take a 38-30 lead.
After Francis drained a trey to cut the lead to 40-35 with 16:47 remaining, Fears assisted on three consecutive dunks. Carr threw down the first two, with the second assist by Fears passing Johnson, and Jordan Scott finished with the last one, giving Michigan State a 46-35 lead with 15:34 left.
Michigan State later elevated the lead to 74-55 on Carr's triple with 6:17 left.
Ogbole scored three straight baskets to pull Rutgers within 75-63 with 3:37 remaining, but Kohler and Fears responded with baskets to make it a 16-point margin with 2:54 left.
Michigan State led 31-30 at the break.
Francis had 10 first-half points for the Scarlet Knights, who led for more than 13 minutes of the first half.