EAST LANSING, Mich. — The Northern Michigan men's basketball team squared off against alumnus Tom Izzo's Michigan State Spartans Wednesday night in exhibition play at the Breslin Student Events Center.
 

"It was a great experience for our players," head coach Bill Sall said. "The coaches in the Michigan State program showed us great hospitality. From a game perspective, we competed really well in the first half and did some great things."

At the half, the Wildcats trailed, 38-33, bolstered by strong performances by Marcus Hall and Jordan Perez, who totaled 11 and 10 points respectively. But the Spartans built a 60-40 lead by 12:45 in the second half and never looked back on the way to a 94-53 victory. 

"In the first five minutes of the second half, they really took it to us, and we didn't respond," Sall said. "But there were both many positives and negatives in this game. We're going to get in the film room to get ready for Michigan."

After Michigan State scored the game's first nine points, Hall got the Wildcats on the board at 15:58 with a jump shot. Twenty nine seconds later, Perez cut the Spartan advantage to four with a three-pointer. 

By 12:30, Northern Michigan trailed only 15-13 after Perez drained a three-pointer and a jump shot. Michigan State responded by going on a 9-2 run to open up a 24-15 lead, but the Wildcats fought back to pull within a single bucket at the 2:01 mark. 

At 5:44, the Spartans held a 28-18 lead. The Wildcats proceeded to go on a 12-4 run to cut the Michigan State advantage to 32-30; Isaiah Johnson's three-pointer capped that run. 

Perez finished with a team-high 15 points. Naba Echols added 13 points and a team-best seven assists. Kenny Williams posted six rebounds off the bench for the Wildcats, who posted as many offensive rebounds (14) as Michigan State did in the game.

As a team, Northern Michigan went 9-26 from behind the three-point arc and 6-12 at the free-throw line.

Michigan State's Bryn Forbes recorded a game-high 23 points while Denzel Valentine posted a triple-double with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

The Wildcats return to the court Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. when they square off against Michigan in an exhibition game at the Crisler Center.