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No. 21 Michigan State easily handles Texas Southern

Nov 18, 2012 - 8:27 PM East Lansing, MI (Sports Network) - Gary Harris scored 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting and the 21st-ranked Michigan State Spartans cruised past the Texas Southern Tigers, 69-41, on Sunday.

Branden Dawson added 13 points, six rebounds and five steals for the Spartans (2-1), who have won two in a row since opening the season with a loss to Connecticut.

"Gary has been as solid as anybody," Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said. "He's making free throws, but if I had to pick a negative about him it would be his rebounding. I think he could be a phenomenal rebounder and he isn't doing that very well."

Fred Sturdivant had 10 points and 12 boards for the Tigers (1-3), who shot just 21.1 percent from the field. Raymond Penn also tallied 10 points.

The game was never in doubt after Michigan State started the game on an 11-3 run.

Texas Southern actually got within six, 23-17, when Lawrence Johnson-Danner made a 3-pointer and Kyrie Sutton made a layup with about seven minutes to go.

But the Spartans ended the first half on a 17-2 run to take a 40-19 lead.

Michigan State cruised to victory in the second half.

"Well we were trying to do some things that we can build on and get better as a basketball team," Texas Southern head coach Mike Davis said. "We knew it would be a definite challenge for us, especially after playing Friday night and flying out Saturday."

Game Notes

Michigan State leads the all-time series, 2-0 ... The Spartans improved to 96-18 all-time in home openers ... Michigan State shot 46.7 percent from the field.