Long Beach Gets Respect in Defeat : College basketball: No. 15 Michigan State sweats out 70-60 victory in Spartan Classic final.

Michigan State had hoped for a tough test Friday against Long Beach State in the final of the Spartan Classic. But this was too much.

The 15th-ranked Spartans had to work for their 70-60 victory.

“That was a win, but it was a hard-earned win,” Michigan State Coach Jud Heathcote said. “I think they might have been a little more ready to play than we were, and they played some Big Ten-style defense.”

The victory gave Michigan State (7-1) its sixth consecutive Spartan Classic title.

Long Beach (4-2) trailed by only 35-31 at the half, and quickly cut the margin to two when Joe McNaull opened the second half with a basket.

But the Spartans went on an 11-1 run over the next six minutes, six points coming from Jamie Feick and the other five from Eric Snow.

“All of that was because of Eric and Shawn (Respert),” said Feick, who had 15 of his 16 points in the second half. “They are great guards, and they just kept getting me the ball when I got open.”

Long Beach State was able to get back within 55-50 when the Spartans missed several free throws, but could get no closer.

“We showed ourselves that if we play hard for 40 minutes, we can compete with anyone,” Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg said. “That’s a great team, and we played them tough. We just made a couple defensive mistakes, and we missed some big free throws.”

Respert led all scorers with 21 points, giving him 2,020 for his career.

Mike Atkinson led Long Beach State with 17 points, but he was the only 49er to reach double figures.