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Minneapolis, MN (AP) -- Michigan State's Raymar Morgan scored 16 points and Goran Suton had 11 points and 17 rebounds as Michigan State stopped 15th-seeded Robert Morris in a 77-62 victory in the first round of the Midwest Regional on Friday night. Michigan State will next play 10th-seeded USC on Saturday.
Robert Morris, which won its record sixth Northeast Conference title on March 11th, ended its year with a 24-11 record. The Colonials are now 50-19 over the last two seasons under Mike Rice.
Draymond Green added 16 points for the second-seeded Spartans (27-6), who were spotty during the Big Ten season thanks to Morgan's walking pneumonia and Suton's gimpy knees. They both looked fine on Friday night against the Colonials and the Spartans regained the form that led to convincing victories over Kansas, Oklahoma State and Texas earlier in the year.
The Colonials were game early, leading 28-26 with six minutes to go in the first half as they looked to become just the fifth No. 15 seed to win in the first round in tourney history.
"Everybody's eyes lit up and we knew that we could play with them," guard Jimmy Langhurst said. "They're the same age as us. We were competing with them. It kind of shocked us for a second."
But Robert Morris didn't have Steve Nash, like Santa Clara did in a victory over Arizona in 1993.
And Michigan State didn't lay an egg while looking ahead to the second round, like Syracuse did against Richmond in 1991.
"We played one of our better games," coach Tom Izzo said.
Jeremy Chappell led Robert Morris (24-11) with 11 points in the Colonials' first NCAA appearance since 1992. Chappell, the Colonials' do-everything guard who leads the team in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals, shot 5-for-14 and had six rebounds and two steals.
With Rice, the rising star and former assistant at Pitt under Jamie Dixon, prodding his young team and pumping his fists, Robert Morris tried to go toe-to-toe with the Big Ten champs, but got knocked silly in a 10-minute span bridging the first and second halves.
Trailing by four with 3:30 to play in the first half, Rob Robinson burst down the lane and leaped for what may have been a momentum-changing dunk. But the ball hit the front of the rim and Robinson tumbled to the court with an "OOOOOH!" from the crowd, and not the good kind.
Robert Morris never seemed to recover.
Allen came right back with a layup and a 3-pointer and Green capped an 11-0 finish to the half with a putback of his own to give Michigan State a 41-30 lead at the break.
The 21-0 barrage continued in the first five minutes of the second half, with the lead ballooning to 51-30 before the Colonials scored their first points of the period.
The Spartans led by as many as 23 points before Izzo called off the dogs. A late surge by the Colonials made the score a little more respectable, but the outcome was never in doubt in the final 25 minutes.
"What I want them to take away is that all of the hard work, all of the dedication, all of the sacrifices, they've had an incredible last two weeks of their lives, and it's something they're always going to remember," Rice said.
Michigan State had a 49-28 advantage on the boards and 44-20 in the paint against a smaller opponent that resides in Moon Township, about 17 miles from downtown Pittsburgh.
Fast Facts
• Michigan State rode the momentum of a 21-0 run to turn a 30-30 tie into a blowout as the Spartans improved to 9-3 all-time in the first round of the NCAA tournament under coach Tom Izzo.
• Raymar Morgan led the way for Michigan State with 16 points, 11 coming in the second half, while Goran Suton chipped in 11 points to go along with 17 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season.
• Robert Morris went over 10 minutes without a field goal, continuing from the end of the first half and into the second half.
• The Colonials fell to 1-6 all time in the NCAA tournament.
-- ESPN research