EAST LANSING - Michigan's luck seemed to bounce along with the ball.

With just over 15 minutes left in the game, the Wolverines had a chance to cut Michigan State's lead under 10.

As senior Graham Brown drove to the basket, he dribbled the ball off his foot, and it skipped to the top of the key. Brown dove to corral it, but it squirted further toward halfcourt. There, senior Daniel Horton had a chance to save the Michigan possession. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, Spartan Paul Davis reached the ball first. He tossed it ahead to Maurice Ager, who slammed home an easy dunk.

Following that sequence, Michigan never came within striking distance of Michigan State and eventually fell to the Spartans, 90-71, at the Breslin Center on Saturday afternoon.

"There's not a lot of margin for error there for us," Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said. "I thought some second-chance points and loose balls they were able to get. They get one, and it's a leak out. They get some dunks, and the crowd gets involved. Certainly, those kinds of plays hurt us."

Throughout the night, the Wolverines struggled to contain a determined Michigan State team that returned home following consecutive road losses at Iowa and Minnesota.

The Spartans, fueled by Shannon Brown's 26 points on 11-for-16 shooting, shot over 50 percent from the field for the game and 70 percent from behind the arc in the second half to seal Michigan's fate.

Even on the rare occasion when Michigan State missed a shot, the Spartans crashed the boards and grabbed the offensive rebound. They collected 13 offensive boards and converted them into 20 second chance points.

"I think that's what killed us the most, their offensive rebounds," junior Courtney Sims said. "It's hard playing the extra 35 seconds on defense after that."

Part of Michigan's inability to effectively keep the Spartans off of the glass stemmed from an early injury to senior Chris Hunter. Two minutes into the game, freshman Jevohn Shepherd took stepped in front of a driving Ager to draw the charge. As he fell back, he hit Hunter in the left knee.

"I wanted to be out there helping us do whatever to win," Hunter said. "It's tough to on that sideline and not be able to do so."

After the 6-foot-11 forward left the game, the Wolverine frontcourt suffered serious foul trouble. In the first half, Sims and Brown picked up three and two fouls, respectively. The foul situation forced Amaker - already dealing with a thin frontcourt rotation due to Hunter's injury - to resort to a 2-3 zone defense.

And the Spartans exploited it. They hit wide-open 3-pointers, going 7-for-10 from downtown in the second half. They found Davis inside, and the center finished with 18 points. They unselfishly passed the ball to find openings in the Michigan zone and registered 25 assists compared to just 11 turnovers.

"We wanted to up the lead quick and get them out of the game," Davis said. "We wanted to get the lead up to 20, which we did, and just roll from there."

The Spartans' domination in the second half overshadowed Michigan's hot start. Behind two Horton 3-pointers, the Wolverines jumped out to a 6-2 lead two minutes into the contest. They held the lead until Davis hit two free throws to give Michigan State a 16-15 advantage with 10:40 left in the first half.

And the Wolverines would never lead again.

Even though the Spartans ran away with the game, Michigan still had four players score in double digits. Horton led the way for the Wolverines with 19 points, Sims and Brown each scored 15 and junior Brent Petway added 10 off the bench.

Another bright spot for the Wolverines, junior Dion Harris returned to the court for the first time since injuring his ankle against Ohio State on Feb. 9. Harris played 18 minutes but scored just two points on 1-for-4 shooting.

But scoring wasn't the problem for Michigan. The Wolverines were done in by their inability to stop the Michigan State offense. They surrendered 90 points for the third time this season.

"It's disappointing, seeing that we played so great defensively on Wednesday," junior Dion Harris said. "It's disappointing to give that type of effort for the whole game on Wednesday and then come out here (on Saturday) on their floor and let it slip away."