No. 4 Michigan State, stunned in its season opener, rebounds to beat Southern Indiana 74-51

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This article was published 09/11/2023 (1060 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Tyson Walker scored 14 points and No. 4 Michigan State bounced back from a surprising loss in its season opener to beat Southern Indiana 74-51 on Thursday night.

Maddy Sissoko had 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Spartans (1-1), who began the season with a loss to James Madison in overtime before getting a lopsided win over an overmatched team in its second season of Division I basketball.

The Screaming Eagles (0-2) missed 17 of their first 18 shots and trailed 37-14 at halftime. They were much more competitive early in the second half, going on a 12-0 run to cut the deficit to 15 points.

Michigan State responded by making five of six shots to take a 22-point lead and coasted to a much-needed victory, less than a week before facing No. 2 Duke.

NO. 20 BAYLOR 96, JOHN BROWN 70

WACO, Texas (AP) — Langston Love matched his career high with 20 points, RayJ Dennis scored 16 points with eight assists and Baylor won its home opener against an NAIA opponent.

Jayden Nunn added 15 points for the Bears (2-0), who played the midday game before mostly elementary school students only about 37 hours after finishing their season-opening win over Auburn in South Dakota. They got back to Waco at about 3 a.m. Wednesday.

Drew Miller had 19 points with five 3-pointers to lead John Brown. Malachi Reeves added 17 points while making all seven of his field goal attempts.

Dennis, the MAC Player of the Year at Toledo last season, also had six steals and was key in two big runs after halftime. He had consecutive layups to start a 10-0 run, then in a later 13-0 spurt scored six points in a 37-second span with a jumper and consecutive steals he turned into fast-break dunks.

NO. 21 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 86, CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD 59

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Isaiah Collier scored 19 points, Oziyah Sellers added a career-high 16 and Southern California routed Cal State Bakersfield in the Trojans’ home opener.

Coming off a 13-point win over Kansas State in Las Vegas earlier in the week, the Trojans had no trouble with the Roadrunners of the Big West.

USC (2-0) set the tone in the first half, shooting 59% from the floor, scoring 19 points off Bakersfield’s turnovers and leading 47-23 at the break.

DJ Rodman added 15 points and Joshua Morgan had 12 for the Trojans, who counted Chris Rock, Rodman’s soccer pro sister Trinity, and USC student Natalia Bryant among the crowd.

Kaleb Higgins led the Roadrunners (1-1) with 19 points and Cameron Wilbon had 10.

NO. 23 SAINT MARY’S 72, NEW MEXICO 58

MORAGA, Calif. (AP) — Aidan Mahaney matched his career high of 25 points and made five 3-pointers, and Saint Mary’s avenged last season’s home loss to New Mexico.

The Gaels (2-0) dominated at both ends of the court and led by 22 before coasting over the final eight minutes to win.

Harry Wessels added 12 points, the only other Saint Mary’s player to score in double figures.

The win took a little sting out of the Gaels’ 69-65 loss to the Lobos a year ago, a victory that snapped Saint Mary’s school-record, 23-game winning streak at home.

Donovan Dent had 15 points and five assists for New Mexico.

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