Spartan Firepower Too Much for Tar Heels

North Carolina faced a problem that will challenge Michigan State’s opponents all season.

Which of the Spartans do you try to stop?

It’s a difficult question to answer as the Tar Heels found out.

The third-ranked Spartans used a balanced attack Wednesday night to defeat sixth-ranked North Carolina, 77-64, in an ACC/Big Ten Challenge game at East Lansing, Mich.

Jason Richardson led Michigan State (4-0) with 16 points. Andre Hutson had 14 points and nine rebounds and Charlie Bell added 15 points.

Four others scored six or more points and a fifth player, Mike Chappell, made a key three-point shot midway through the second half.

Before the season began, Bell thought this team would be better offensively than the one that won last season’s national championship.

Now he is sure of it.

“Last year, if you stopped Pete, we could be in trouble,” said Bell, referring to Morris Peterson, who is playing for the Toronto Raptors. “Now, we just have so many weapons. If you try to stop one guy or one part of our game, you’re going to be out of luck because so many guys can score.”

Five players scored the first five baskets and the balanced scoring didn’t stop there.

“We got a lot of play out of a lot of people,” Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo said. “We had moments where we looked real good and moments when we looked kind of sloppy.”

Kris Lang prevented North Carolina (3-1) from being routed by scoring a career-high 22 points.

No. 5 Arizona 101, Gonzaga 87--Gilbert Arenas scored 12 of his 21 points in a late 20-6 run and the Wildcats (4-1) made 34 of 39 free throws at Tucson.

Arizona, coming off a 72-69 loss to Purdue in Indianapolis on Saturday, was down, 76-71, to the scrappy Bulldogs (3-1) with 7:42 to play.

No. 23 Wisconsin 78, No. 13 Maryland 75--Sophomore Kirk Penney scored five of his 18 points in overtime to lift the Badgers (2-1) over the Terrapins (1-3) in an ACC/Big Ten Challenge game at Milwaukee.

No. 21 Virginia 98, Purdue 79--The ACC/Big Ten Challenge proved little challenge at all for the ball-hawking Cavaliers (4-0), who forced 23 turnovers and rolled over the Boilermakers (1-2) at Charlottesville, Va.

No. 22 Cincinnati 82, No. 24 Dayton 75--Steve Logan scored 21 points to lead the Bearcats (3-1) over the Flyers (2-2) at Dayton, Ohio.

Indiana State 59, Indiana 58--Michael Menser’s three-point basket with less than one second to play at Terre Haute, Ind., gave the Sycamores (3-1) their second consecutive victory over the Hoosiers (2-3) and sent Indiana to its third consecutive loss.

St. Louis 88, California 66--Maurice Jeffers scored 18 points to lead the Billikens (3-1) over the Golden Bears (1-2) at St. Louis.