Houston shooting out to a fast start

Corey Davis Jr. broke out of a shooting slump to help Houston improve to 10-0.

Davis hit the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 29 seconds left and had 17 points in the No. 24 Cougars’ 68-64 comeback victory over Saint Louis on Sunday in Houston.

Davis was 3 of 5 from 3-point range and hit all six of his free throws. He entered Sunday shooting 8 of 38 on 3-pointers over his last five games.

“When you have good shooters, you want them to keep shooting,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “Corey made 105 3-pointers last year. At the end of the day, everything will even out. Corey made some huge ones tonight.”

Armoni Brooks had 13 points and eight rebounds, and Galen Robinson Jr. added 13 for Houston in its 23rd straight home win. Houston’s 10-0 start is the second-best in school history, tying the 1967-68 team.

“When we play these teams, we anticipate a close game,” Sampson said. “Just because our record says 10-0, we didn’t all of a sudden become Duke. We’re a team that’s going to have to fight, scrap and claw for just about everything that we get.”

Javon Bess had 17 for Saint Louis (7-3). points

Spartans roll: Nick Ward scored 22 of his 28 points in a nearly perfect first half to help No. 9 Michigan State rout Green Bay 104-83 in East Lansing, Mich.

Ward made all nine of his field-goal attempts in the first half, although he did miss a free throw. The Spartans (9-2) made their last seven shots of the half to take a 64-35 lead.

Ward also made his first two shots of the second half and finished 12 of 13.

Sandy Cohen III scored 22 points for Green Bay, which actually led 24-20 before a 27-4 run by Michigan State. The Phoenix (6-6) had only one timeout left by halftime, but nothing they tried was enough to slow the Spartans.

For a while, the Spartans appeared to have a chance to break the school record of 121 points. They had 75 with 15:00 remaining, but they couldn’t quite keep up that pace.