CLEVELAND, Ohio — The grind that is the NCAA Tournament made Michigan State’s trip to Cleveland a strenuous one.
It took another strong second-half performance for the No. 2-seeded Spartans to prevail over their second-round opponent, No. 10-seeded New Mexico, on Sunday, and as a result, Michigan State stamped its ticket to the Sweet 16 with a 71-63 victory.
Spartan senior guard Jaden Akins led Michigan State’s scoring effort with 16 points, while junior guard. Tre Holloman finished closely behind with 14. Senior forward Frankie Fidler also finished in double digits in the scoring column with 10.
Michigan State found itself quickly facing an early 7-0 deficit, which expanded to a 10-2 start for the Lobos.
A triple from Holloman would give the Spartans the boost they needed, as they would soon make it just a one-possession game again with nearly 5 minutes gone.
New Mexico senior forward Mustapha Amzil proved to be trouble for Michigan State early on, scoring 9 points in the first 6-and-a-half minutes of the contest.
An 8-1 run would put New Mexico up 10 with a bit over 9 minutes to go.
Just as the Spartans were starting to chip away at the deficit, Amzil would knock down a deflating bucket from deep, his second of the game, putting the Lobos back up by three possessions with less than 5 minutes to go in the half.
Michigan State responded with 8 unanswered points, though, capped off by an alley-oop slam from Fears to Akins, to make it just a 1-point game with under 2 minutes remaining until halftime.
The Spartans would eventually go into halftime down just 2, despite having gone an abysmal 1-of-9 from range. They also struggled once again from the charity stripe, making just six free throws on 10 attempts.
Michigan State would score the first 4 points of the second half, giving itself its first lead of the night.
The Spartans would go up by as many as 4, but a resilient New Mexico would retake the lead shortly after.
That advantage wouldn’t hold up long, though, as Michigan State put together a 7-0 run, which concluded with a 3-pointer from Akins that gave the Spartans their largest lead of the game until that point, 5 points.
Once again, the Lobos tied it again with 7:39 remaining, before Michigan State put together back-to-back momentous possessions — a triple from Akins and a big-time bucket in transition from Fidler.
He was fouled on the shot but missed the free throw. The veteran made up for it, though, adding another basket on the next Spartan possession before following git up with yet another on the one after that.
That pushed Michigan State’s lead to 8.
Shortly after, Holloman would drill one from deep to give the Spartans a 9-point lead with 4:33 to go.
New Mexico wasn’t backing down, though, and quickly cut the deficit down to just 5.
Michigan State redshirt freshman Jase Richardson surprisingly hadn’t scored for the majority of the game, but at a point when his team needed him as much as ever, he answered.
With the Spartan sup by just 7 with a bit over a minute-and-a-half to go, Richardson would draw a foul on a 3-point attempt. He went to the line and sunk all three free throws, all but sealing the deal.
New Mexico responded with a triple, but that wouldn’t be enough as Richardson once again came up big, converting a crucial and-1 to cushion the Spartans’ lead at 10 with under a minute to go.
Michigan State will head to Atlanta to face No. 7-seeded Ole Miss at 7 p.m. on Friday.
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