Spartans race to win

Associated Press

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The next measuring stick for top-ranked Michigan State is No. 16 North Carolina on Wednesday as part of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

“We’re going to have to play a lot better this week,” Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo said after his team routed Mount St. Mary’s 98-65 Friday. “What a privilege and an honor to be able to play two of the most winningest programs in the history of the NCAA in Kentucky and North Carolina in a seven-, eight-game stretch.”

The Spartans (7-0) expect an equally tough challenge as they faced against then-No. 1 Kentucky which resulted in a 78-74 Spartans victory.

“They’re (the Tar Heels) a pretty good team,” said Keith Appling who led the Spartans with 17 points off the bench. “We’re going to be ready. We’re going to need to do all the little things in order to come out with a win. We know how good they are.”

The Spartans wrapped up another successful early part of the season — the last time they lost at home in November was to a David Robinson-led Navy team on Nov. 29, 1986. With Friday’s victory, Michigan State has won 74 straight games against unranked non-conference opponents at home.

Michigan State — which is off to its best start since opening the 2000-01 season with a 12-0 mark — did not start Appling, Adreian Payne and Branden Dawson due to showing up late to a required class.

“I’ve got a lot of jobs in this job, and one of them is to graduate guys and one is to stay accountable,” Izzo said. “It was a minor little thing but it was over a class that they needed to be at. They were told that and they decided to try their way, and their way didn’t work.”

It was the first time Appling missed a start at Michigan State since his freshman year.

“It was really a wake-up call, lesson learned,” Appling said. “I was just glad that we were able to come out and play the way we did the second half and come out with the win.”

The Spartans also did not play leading-scorer Gary Harris to rest his ankle that has bothered him since injuring it during the summer. Harris, who averaged 17.7 points, sat on the bench in his warm-ups and is expected to play against North Carolina.

“Michigan State, obviously the No. 1 team in the country, definitely played like it today,” said Mountaineers coach Jamion Christian. “Quite honestly, watching them from afar for a lot of years you can see why they’re so talented and so good every year.”

Will Miller scored 15 points for the Mountaineers (2-6) who were facing the No. 1 team for only the second time in school history. Mount St. Mary’s lost to top-ranked North Carolina in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament.

The Spartans held the Mountaineers’ two leading scorers, Julian Norfleet and Rashad Whack, to 13 and 10 points. The two came into the game combining for 33.7 points.

The loss dropped the Mountaineers to 1-21 all-time against ranked opponents. Their win came in December 1995 against then No. 21 Georgia Tech.

NEW YORK — Nick Johnson scored all but two of his 15 points in the second half and No. 4 Arizona beat No. 6 Duke in the championship game of the NIT Season Tip-Off.

The game was expected to be a matchup of two of the best freshmen in the country and, although Aaron Gordon of Arizona and Jabari Parker of Duke didn’t spend a lot of time covering each other, they were both key factors in the outcome.

Gordon, the quiet forward, finished with 10 points and seven rebounds and came up big late with a dunk on an alley-oop pass and then fed Rondae Hollis-Jefferson for a dunk less than a minute later to give the Wildcats (7-0) a 61-51 lead with 3:59 to play.

Parker, who had 19 points for his first game under 20 points this season, struggled against Arizona’s physical defense and was 7 of 21 from the field. He came into the game shooting 60 percent from the field.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Marcus Smart scored 17 points to help the Cowboys survive a major scare against Butler in an Old Spice Classic semifinal.

Oklahoma State (7-0) again came out flat to start the second half one day after watching a 23-point halftime lead dwindle to four with 3 minutes to play before beating Purdue 97-87. The Cowboys will play in Sunday night’s championship against No. 21 Memphis, which beat LSU 76-69.

With the Cowboys holding a 68-67 lead in the final minute, Smart missed three free throws, including the front end of a 1-and-1.

Butler’s Khyle Marshall was fouled with 8.4 seconds remaining, but also missed his free throws.

Butler (5-1) got 15 points from Brown.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — LaQuinton Ross broke out of a frigid shooting spell by scoring 17 points and No. 7 Ohio State rode a 19-point first-half run to a victory over North Florida.

Amir Williams and Amedeo Della each hit career highs for the Buckeyes (6-0), with 18 and 17 points, respectively. Aaron Craft added 16 points, making his first 3-pointer of the season, while Lenzelle Smith Jr. had 10.

Beau Beech and Dallas Moore had 14 points apiece and Charles McRoy 11 for North Florida (4-4), which fell to 0-16 against ranked teams and 0-6 against teams in the top 10.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Chris Jones came off the bench to score 18 points, including four 3-pointers, and No. 9 Louisville bounced back from its first loss to roll past Southern Mississippi.

Five days after a lackluster effort in a 93-84 loss to North Carolina, the Cardinals (6-1) got a better effort on both ends with the help of two new starters. Freshman point guard Terry Rozier got things going offensively by making his first three from beyond the arc en route to nine points, while redshirt freshman center Mangok Mathiang had seven rebounds and three blocks.

Jones made 4 of 7 from long range and 5 of 10 overall. Louisville shot 23 of 55 (42 percent) and matched a season high with 12 3-pointers.

The Cardinals’ trademark pressure defense forced 22 turnovers and stifled the Golden Eagles (6-1) at the start of both halves, holding them scoreless for nearly 12 combined minutes.

Michael Craig’s nine points led the Golden Eagles, who shot 13 of 45 from the field (29 percent).

EUGENE, Ore. — Mike Moser scored 19 points to lead No. 14 Oregon past Pacific.

Johnathan Loyd had 13 assists, tied with four others for the second-most ever by an Oregon player.

The Ducks (5-0) scored 20 straight points after halftime to break open a close game. Pacific (4-1) led 36-29 after the break, but then went nearly seven minutes without scoring.

T.J. Wallace and Trevin Harris had 14 points each for the Tigers.

Joseph Young finished with 14 points for the Ducks, Jason Calliste added 15 and Damyean Dotson had 13 points and seven rebounds.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Dorian Finney-Smith made a free throw with 1.3 seconds left, lifting No. 15 Florida over rival Florida State.

Finney-Smith struggled all night from the field, missing 10 of 12 shots, but came up big in the clutch.

He grabbed an offensive rebound on a missed jumper by Scottie Wilbekin and got fouled on the putback. He missed the first free throw, but gathered himself and sank the second one for the Gators (6-1).

Florida State (5-2) had a shot to win it, but Ian Miller’s desperation heave from half court bounced off the back of the rim, just missing by inches.

Casey Prather led Florida with 19 points, and Michael Frazier II added 17. Finney-Smith finished with six points and 10 rebounds.

Miller finished with 13 points and Boris Bojanovsky had 14 points for Florida State.

The Gators extended their home-winning streak to 20 and won their fifth straight in the series.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Austin Nichols scored 19 points and Chris Crawford had 17 to lead No. 21 Memphis to victory over LSU in a semifinal at the Old Spice Classic.

Joe Jackson added 16 points for Memphis (4-1), which will play No. 5 Oklahoma State in Sunday night’s championship game.

Anthony Hickey scored 20 points for LSU (4-2).

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Playing without leading scorer Nik Stauskas, No. 22 Michigan found plenty of offensive firepower to rout Coppin State.

Freshman Zak Irvin matched his career-high of 10 points by halftime, when Michigan led 42-23, and brought the Crisler Center crowd to its feet by connecting on three consecutive 3-pointers for a 63-31 lead with 13:24 left to play.

The freshman finished with 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting, including 6 of 10 from 3-point range.

Caris LeVert added 15 points and Glenn Robinson III 14 points for Michigan (5-2). Dallas Gary came off the bench to score a team-high 11 points Coppin State (2-3).

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — Aaron White scored 17 points, Zach McCabe added 14 and No. 23 Iowa rolled into the championship game of the Battle 4 Atlantis with an easy victory over Texas-El Paso.

Peter Jok scored 14 and Melsahn Basabe finished with 10 for the Hawkeyes (7-0), who have won five times this season by at least 31 points. Iowa will meet either Kansas or Villanova for the tournament title on Saturday.

FULLERTON, Calif. — Davante Gardner scored 20 points and had nine rebounds to lead No. 25 Marquette over George Washington in the semifinals of the Wooden Legacy.

Marquette (5-2) used a 12-2 run early in the first half to build a double-digit lead and never trailed.

The Colonials (5-1) tried to stage a couple of comebacks in the second half but never got any closer than 12 points in the second half.

George Washington hurt itself by shooting just 35 percent from the floor, and making just 15 of 25 free throws.

Gardner had 14 of his game-high 20 points, when the Golden Eagles built a 21-point halftime lead. Jake Thomas added 13 points for the Marquette.

The Colonials were led by Kethan Savage and Maurice Creek, who scored 15 and 14 points, respectively.