EAST LANSING — Big Ten bottom-feeder Michigan State wasn't supposed to stick with the No. 11 Michigan wrestling team like it did Friday.

But no matter how ugly the win was, the Wolverines left East Lansing Friday with another tally in the win column.

Playing in their final regular season dual meet, the Wolverines, who looked sluggish in the middle weights, finished on an exclamation mark to win 24-15 over the Spartans in a score that doesn’t reflect how close the meet really was.

With the win, Michigan (5-3 Big Ten, 11-5 overall) snapped a three-game skid and now heads into postseason play with a bit of momentum.

“I thought it was important to come up here and get a win, no doubt about it,” Michigan coach Joe McFarland said after the meet. “I expected us to win … Michigan State wrestled hard tonight, so kudos to them, but I’m proud of my guys.

“It was a little closer than I expected it to be.”

The Wolverines seemed to be pulling ahead, leading 13-9 late in the meet with Michigan State (1-6, 9-8) struggling to sustain its early success.

But the Spartans — heavy underdogs in nearly every match — pulled a stunning upset when sophomore Sean Boyle was pinned. Boyle dominated the match’s opening minute, but a routine scramble suddenly took a turn for the worst when Boyle landed under his opponent and was quickly pinned.

The green-clad crowd exploded as Michigan State found itself with an 18-15 lead, and just two matches left to play.

But the noise quickly evaporated from historic Jenison Field House as junior Zac Stevens made easy work of his foe, winning 22-7 in a technical fall — earned when a wrestler holds a 15-point advantage in the match. The win gave Michigan five points, putting the Wolverines ahead for good at 18-15.

“(Michigan State’s Chris Lyon is) a young kid, I knew I was going to dominate him,” Stevens said, acknowledging he felt no pressure entering the deciding match. “I just went out there and did what I expected to do.”

To open the match, Michigan State chose to lead off with its only ranked wrestler, 20th-ranked Dan Osterman — one of only two Spartans favored to win Friday.

But sophomore Eric Grajales made a statement — upsetting Osterman in dominating fashion, winning by a major decision, 10-1.

“I went into it like any other match — I had to go out there, I had to score points, it wasn’t any different than other day of the week,” Grajales said Friday. “In the third period, I felt him slowing down. I started getting going. I knew I just had to keep pushing the pace and I’d break him.”

Michigan couldn’t capitalize on its early momentum, though. Instead of cruising through the rest of Michigan State’s lineup, the Wolverines struggled.

No. 20 redshirt freshman Brandon Zeerip fell victim to an upset, spurred by a late charge by his opponent, who dominated the final period of the match.

After redshirt freshman Dan Yates won easily, 5-1, fifth-year senior Aaron Hynes was forced to jump up two weight classes in an emergency start in place of injured 19th-ranked redshirt junior Justin Zeerip.

Hynes led until a Michigan State takedown with under a minute left, but quickly regained composure, tying the match. With only a few seconds left in regulation, Hynes fell victim to a controversial no-call on what could’ve been a takedown. He lost moments into sudden-death overtime.

“Aaron Hynes did a great job,” McFarland said. “He bumped up two weight classes and almost pulled out a tough win. And I thought he got a tough call to be honest with you … He wrestled a great match, though. I was really happy for him.”

No. 11 senior Anthony Biondo added a win in the final dual match of his career and No. 16 redshirt sophomore Ben Apland edged out a win, 3-2.

In the meet’s final match, top-ranked redshirt junior Kellen Russell put the icing on Michigan’s cake — pinning his opponent in just 48 seconds. The win capped a perfect regular season for Russell, who also extended his win streak to 32 matches dating back to 2009.

“I don’t like to talk about streaks,” McFarland said. “I’m proud of him — he’s solid. It’s solid, but it’s a whole new season now for him, to be honest … Kellen’s going to be pretty focused on the postseason tournaments. He takes them one match at a time, that’s what I like about him.