College hoops Friday: Duke, Michigan State, UNC all win at home

Michigan State went up, 9-0, start the game, but the Lions didn’t have any intention of quitting. Columbia made seven of its 16 three-point attempts and clawed its way to a 26-22 halftime lead. No lead was safe in the second half, but Michigan State finished strong as Payne scored ten points in the final six minutes.

The Spartans put themselves in a position to take the top spot in the polls with Tuesday’s win over then-No.1 Kentucky. Michigan State hosts Portland on Monday.

The No. 8 Oklahoma State Cowboys improved to 3-0 with a 97-63 victory against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Friday. The Cowboys never trailed in the game and pulled away late in the first half to take any drama of a possible upset out of the equation.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff weathered the storm early and pulled even with the Cowboys, 14-14, after OSU took an early lead. Even after a 10-0 OSU run, the Golden Lions battled back once again to cut the Cowboy lead to 25-22. That was the end of the threat, however, as Oklahoma State went on a 13-2 run to pull away. Oklahoma State was even better in the second half, outscoring Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 51-33, en route to the 34-point win.

After building a 15-4 lead in eight minutes of play, the Tar Heels went cold and allowed Holy Cross to tie the game at 25 entering the half. But a 12-0 second half run -- capped off by a Paige jumper -- was too much for Holy Cross to overcome.

North Carolina’s next game comes Sunday against Belmont.

No. 3 Louisville continues to cruise through its non-conference schedule, vanquishing Cornell, 99-54. The Cardinals are now 3-0, having defeated Charleston and Hofstra to start the season.

Much of Blackshear’s scoring output came from downtown; he hit four of his five three-point attempts. The Cardinals shot nine of 22 as a team from behind the arc, good for over 40 percent. The Big Red were not as good from deep, shooting just 25 percent on 28 attempts.

Hood and the Blue Devils were red-hot from the opening horn. Hood opened the scoring with a layup on Duke’s first possession and added five of his team’s next 10 points as the Blue Devils cruised to a 12-2 lead before the first TV timeout. Parker, who missed his first two attempts, got into the mix when play resumed by burying a three-pointer to put the Blue Devils up by 12.

The Owls never got closer than 11 the rest of the way.