Maui No Miragefor No. 16 Ball State

Theron Smith scored 20 points and had 17 rebounds, and No. 16 Ball State set a school record with 14 three-point baskets as it routed Elon, 106-65, on Friday night at Muncie, Ind.

It was Ball State’s first game since breaking into the top 25 after upsetting No. 3 UCLA and No. 4 Kansas last week at the Maui Invitational.

Ball State (3-1) took control with a 19-4 run at the end of the first half to build a 44-29 lead, then sealed the victory with a 15-0 run in the second half.

Elon (2-4) was led by David Hall, who finished with 23 points, 17 in the first half.

Ball State started sluggishly and Elon took advantage, using a 7-0 run to tie the score at 25 with 4:22 left in the half.

But Zach Willingham and Patrick Jackson responded with back-to-back three-pointers to break the tie and start the Cardinals on their first big run.

Ball State’s previous school record was 13 three-pointers, which had been accomplished seven times, most recently against Kansas last week.

“In the first half, I think we were too excited,” said Chris Williams, who had 19 points. “In the second half, we started hitting our shots. I think we were just so excited to get out there and play.”

Jackson and Rob Robbins each added 17 for the Cardinals. All the Ball State players scored, as the Cardinals scored their most points in a game since Jan. 31, 1998 against Ohio University.

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No. 7 Iowa 73, Alabama State 64--Reggie Evans and Luke Recker overcame poor starts to score 14 points each and the Hawkeyes shook off feisty Alabama State in the second half at Iowa City, Iowa.

Iowa (5-2) was coming off consecutive losses to No. 3 Missouri and No. 1 Duke and figured to have an easy time against Alabama State (1-5), which had lost to Oregon by 40 two weeks ago. It didn’t happen that way.

The Hornets made things difficult for Iowa behind Keith Gamble’s 25 points. They led by as many as 10 points in the first half and it was midway in the second half before the Hawkeyes got the lead for good.

No. 22 Michigan State 81, Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne 68--Freshman Chris Hill and Marcus Taylor each scored 16 points to lift the Spartans to victory in the semifinals of the Spartan Coca Cola Classic at East Lansing, Mich.

Adam Wolfe added 13 points and Kelvin Torbert also had 12 for Michigan State (3-2), which extended the nation’s longest home-court winning streak to 47 games.

Jeremy King led IPFW (0-5) with 17 points.

No. 23 Marquette 76, Texas Southern 40--Dwyane Wade had 19 points and seven assists and the Golden Eagles routed the winless Tigers at Milwaukee.

Marquette, which won the Great Alaska Shootout, improved to 6-0 for the first time since 1997, when the Golden Eagles won their first 10. Texas Southern is 0-4.

Oregon State 73, Southern Utah 63--Joe See scored 16 points and Adam Masten 15 as the Beavers (4-2) tied a school record with 13 three-pointers at Corvallis, Ore.