Michigan State basketball closes out Oakland late

One day after the Valentine brothers would normally be eating Thanksgiving dinner together, they were duking it out on the court Friday night when Drew and his Oakland team came to East Lansing to take on the 15th ranked Michigan State basketball team and his younger brother Denzel. The game got off to a slow start early as neither team was able to get a steady flow going on offense. At the midway point of the first half, the score was only 12-9 in favor of Michigan State. However, after that, the Spartans picked up the pace a little and eventually took a 34-21 lead into the half. Late in the first half, Michigan State received a scare when junior guard Keith Appling hobbled off the court after turning his ankle. He would return in the second half though. Good thing too. A loss of another guard would have been absolutely devastating for this team as Michigan State was already without the aid of freshman guard Gary Harris (strained shoulder) and sophomore guard Travis Trice (concussi...