EAST LANSING – Much like they did to NCAA Division III Finlandia last week, Northern Michigan University couldn’t keep up with the depth of Division I Michigan State, which pulled away around the start of the second half for a 94-53 exhibition men’s basketball victory on Wednesday night.

“It was a great experience for our players,” Wildcats head coach Bill Sall said. “The coaches in the Michigan State program showed us great hospitality. From a game perspective, we competed really well in the first half and did some great things.”

Spartans head coach Tom Izzo is an alumnus of NMU, which is also playing an exhibition at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 13, at the University of Michigan.

The Wildcats trailed just 38-33 at halftime bolstered by strong performances from Marcus Hall, who scored 11 points in the first half, and Jordan Perez, who had 10 during those first 20 minutes.

But MSU began pulling away early in the second half, building a 60-40 lead with 12:45 left and never looking back.

“In the first five minutes of the second half, they really took it to us, and we didn’t respond,” said Sall, who coached much closer to East Lansing when he was at Ferris State for about a decade before coming to Northern two seasons ago. “But there were both many positives and negatives in this game. We’re going to get in the film room to get ready for Michigan.”

The Spartans jumped out to a 9-0 lead before Hall got the Wildcats on the board with 15:58 left in the first half on a jump shot. Within 30 seconds, Perez cut the State advantage to four with a 3-pointer.

With 12:30 to go, NMU made it a two-point game for the first of two instances in the opening half, this one at 15-13 on a Perez triple and two-point jumper 24 seconds apart.

In this game of early runs, the Spartans put together a 9-2 streak before the Wildcats fought back to pull within two again, 32-30, when Isaiah Johnson capped off Northern’s 12-4 streak with a 3-pointer with 2:01 left.

The Spartans quickly padded their lead into double digits early in the second half.

Perez finished with a team-high 15 points, while freshman Naba Echols added 13 and a team-best seven assists. Kenny Williams grabbed six rebounds off the bench for the Wildcats, who posted as many offensive rebounds, 14, as Michigan State. But MSU held a gigantic 41-18 defensive rebounding edge.

Bryn Forbes led Michigan State with 23 points, while Denzel Valentine posted a triple-double of 14 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. The Spartans shot just over 50 percent, 33 of 65, from the field while Northern was barely half that at 19 of 69.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.