EAST LANSING — Tyson Walker grimaced in pain. A.J. Hoggard got knocked to the court, slow to get up.

Already without Jeremy Fears Jr., already struggling to defend Indiana State’s sizzling outside shooting, Michigan State basketball was in a load of trouble midway through Saturday’s second half.

Yet the Spartans’ guards dug in and found the resiliency to recover. A tip from Jaden Akins. A driving layup by Tre Holloman. A three-point play off the glass by Hoggard. A smothering of the Sycamores around the 3-point arc on defense.

And Malik Hall helped finished off MSU’s comeback with nine of his 18 points in the final eight minutes to deliver a gritty 87-75 victory over the pesky Indiana State at Breslin Center in the Spartans’ final nonconference game of the season.

Walker, whose previously injured hip flared up after he crashed into his own bench going for a loose ball early in the second, finished with 22 points and five assists in 31 minutes. The senior also went 10-for-10 at the free-throw line as the Spartans made 23 of 27 as a team.

Hoggard finished with 17 points with four assists, Akins had 13 points and Holloman added four points, four rebounds and three assists. Mady Sissoko had 12 rebounds, and Hall added eight.

MSU (8-5, 0-2) resumes Big Ten play Thursday at home against Penn State. Tipoff is 7 p.m., and the game will only be streamed online by Peacock, with no television broadcast.

Isaiah Swope scored 26 points and made six 3-pointers for the Sycamores (11-2), while Ryan Conwell added 16 points. Star sophomore big man Robbie Avila battled foul trouble all game, finishing with five points, six rebounds, two assists, three turnovers and four fouls.

ISU finished 14-for-35 from 3-point range but did not make one in the final 11:29 and missed its last seven attempts from deep.

New look

Fears, who was shot in the left thigh Dec. 23 in Illinois while at home for Christmas, returned to campus Friday and was on MSU’s bench for the game. He walked with crutches and acknowledged fans with handshakes before tipoff and got an ovation as he walked back to the locker room at halftime.

The Spartans started distributing Fears’ 15.3 minutes a game by bringing in Holloman as the first guard off the bench but keeping him in his usual rhythm initially by pairing him with Hoggard and sitting Walker, who was wearing a sleeve on his left arm.

Izzo rotated his guards, late in the first half using a lineup that had Walker, Holloman, Akins and Coen Carr paired with Carson Cooper at center. Defensively, the Spartans were strong the entire half, turning 11 Sycamores turnovers into 17 points and getting six steals and three blocks by halftime.

But ISU stayed in the game from outside, hitting 8 of 18 from 3-point range, with Swope making four and scoring 14 points. The Spartans countered by attacking inside off the dribble frequently for a 22-4 edge on points in the paint.

MSU had two scary moments toward the end of the half, when Walker tumbled into his own bench and came up holding his right calf. Seconds later, Hoggard ran into Sycamores guard Ryan Conwell at midcourt and fell to the ground, holding his right knee when he stood up.

Both stayed in the game. Hoggard hit both of his 1-and-1 free throws, then set up Walker for a 3-pointer to close the half on a 7-2 run that gave the Spartans a 44-34 lead.

Walker had 10 points at the break. Hoggard had nine points, two blocks and a steal. Akins also scored nine, while Cooper and Mady Sissoko combined for nine rebounds. MSU turned nine offensive boards into a 13-0 second-chance scoring advantage at the break.

Halftime adjustments

Everything the Sycamores struggled with in the first half flipped, while their outside shooting got even better.

ISU opened the second half on a 17-7 run behind eight points from Conwell and a Swope 3-pointer, and a backdoor dunk from Jayson Kent that tied the game at 51-all with 15:03 left. The Sycamores took their first lead of the second half and first since the opening bucket of the game on a 3-pointer by Julian Larry a little more than 30 seconds later.

Xavier Bledson hit another 3-pointer. Then Swope scored five straight, including a 3-pointer with 11:29 to play, to give Indiana State its biggest lead of the game, 64-59.

Akins tip and Holloman’s driving bucket pulled the Spartans back within a point. Then Hoggard dribbled into the paint, spun into contact and scored off the glass while the whistle blew. That put MSU back up 66-64 with 8:33 to play.

ISU tied it up again on a layup from Kent. But Hoggard delivered a diagonal skip pass to Hall in the left corner, and the senior forward drained a 3-pointer that gave the Spartans the lead for good.

Hall would score over Avila with 6:51 left to spark MSU’s 13-2 knockout run. That included a short jumper in the paint and a pump-fake into a driving dunk by Hall against the zone defense the Sycamores tried to use to counteract their foul problems.

MSU finished with a 46-20 scoring edge in the paint for the game, outrebounded ISU 41-27 and had a 21-9 edge in second-chance points.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari. 

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball eventually overwhelms Indiana State, 87-75