Michigan State Tops Mississippi Valley State, 100-53

LARRY LAGE
AP Sports Writer

EAST LANSING (AP) — Miles Bridges scored 21 of his 24 points in the first half, grabbed 11 rebounds and had six assists in his home debut for No. 13 Michigan State in an 100-53 win over Mississippi Valley State on Friday night.

The Spartans (1-2) got a confidence-boosting win after getting routed by No. 2 Kentucky and losing to No. 10 Arizona by two points.

Ronald Strother had 12 points and Amos Given scored 10 for the Delta Devils (0-4).

Bridges, a 6-foot-7 freshman, put on quite a show that the fans loved at the Breslin Center, including former Michigan State great and Hall of Famer Magic Johnson. Johnson came out of his seat and spread his arms wide and had an ear-to-ear smile when the left-handed Bridges followed up a miss free throw by driving through the lane and leaping to make a backboard-shaking, right-handed dunk.

Nick Ward, one of Michigan State's four highly touted freshmen, had 18 points on 8-of-8 shooting and eight rebounds.