EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Samford men's basketball team hit the road for a tough test at Michigan State tonight. The Bulldogs threw the first punch, jumping out to a 21-9 lead before the home side made a run of their own and ultimately topped Samford 83-75. The Bulldogs drop to 4-2 overall with the defeat while the Spartans move to 4-1 on the season.

The opening 10 minutes of play was dominated by the Bulldogs as they knocked down shots and rattled the Spartans with their mix of pressure and zone defenses. They led for the first 16 minutes of the game and got up by as much as 13 early as the Spartans, who entered the game as one of the lowest percentage three-point shooting teams, struggled against the strong Samford defense. The Bulldogs had a balanced attack offensively early on as Isaiah West provided a nice spark off the bench with a quick four points and some timely rebounds.

However, the second 10 minutes of the opening half was all Spartans. The Bulldogs were able to score just seven points in the stretch as they struggled in the half-court offensively and the Spartans found their stroke on a few deep balls and used their size and speed to control the paint, where they outscored Samford 24-12 in the first half. 

Playing their third game in five days, the Bulldog's heavy legs could have been catching up to them as they hit on just 35 percent from three after hitting 20 in their previous game against Texas Southern. After the initial struggle against the Samford pressure, Michigan State was strong with the ball throughout the remainder of the game and led 38-28 at the half.

For a team that averages 97 points per game on the season, the Dogs had to get their offense going in the second half and they did behind the efforts of leading scorer Jaden Brownell and Lukas Walls off the bench. Brownell was able to find success offensively inside and out like he has been able to do all season. He finished with a team-high 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting and was 3-of-6 from deep. Walls was great for the Dogs from the jump and finished with 12 points on 4-of-6 from the field as he was aggressive offensively all night. He had 8 points in a two-minute stretch in the second half to pull Samford with six, 53-47 with 12:30 minutes left.

Anytime it seemed like Samford had the momentum and was making a run it seemed like the home side always had an answer. Samford cut the deficit to five with under six minutes left but the Spartans knocked down two of their seven threes on the night to push the lead back up to 11. Brownell and Josh Holloway, 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting, were the go-to guys down the stretch as the Dogs were never able to get the MSU lead below six points in closing time.

The Bulldogs committed 19 turnovers on the night which led to a handful of MSU runouts and 27 total points off turnovers combined with the Spartans outscoring the Bulldogs by 10 at the line were the major statistical areas that were the difference in the game tonight. After Samford's initial success with pressure defensively, the Spartans handled it, pushing the ball up the court and outscoring Samford 36-8 in fast break points. Brownell led the Dogs in rebounding with nine while Rylan Jones had eight assists on the night.

After a busy portion of their schedule, the Dogs will get a break as they won't play again until Nov. 26 when they host North Dakota State at the Pete Hanna Center. The Bison currently have a 2-3 record on the season. 

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