The Day

NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL / TOP 25

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Richmond 76, No. 10 Kentucky 64

Blake Francis and Nathan Cayo powered Richmond to the program's first road victory over an Associated Press top-10 team, rallying in the second half to beat Kentucky Sunday.

The Spiders (2-0) had been 0-25 against top 10 teams and trailed 36-30 just after halftime. Francis and Cayo each finished with 18 points, many coming during a series of small scoring runs that pushed Richmond ahead.

A 9-0 burst gave the Spiders the lead, and a 7-0 stretch made it 58-46 with 7:43 remaining. In between, Francis and Tyler Burton hit 3-pointers and Cayo converted a three-point play. Kentucky (1-1) got within eight before Richmond answered with Jacob Gilyard's fast-break layup and Matt Grace's 3-pointer for a 13-point edge with 4:40 left. Francis added a 3-pointer that made it 72-56 and sparked a celebratio­n on the Spiders' bench.

No. 2 Baylor 86, Washington 52

Jared Butler scored 20 points and Baylor won again without coach Scott Drew, beating Washington.

Assistant coach Jerome Tang is directing the Bears with Drew in a 10-day isolation period after testing positive for COVID-19. The Bears (2-0) stayed hot after scorching Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday behind 56.3% shooting, by hitting 34 of 67 (50.7%) from the floor. They shot 44.8% (13 for 29) from 3-point range. Adam Flagler added 17 points, MaCio Teague had 15 points, and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua finished with 12 points and nine rebounds. Mark Vital had eight points and 15 rebounds. RaeQuan Battle led Washington with 10 points in its opener. Erik Stevenson and Jamal Bey each had eight.

After letting Louisiana-Lafayette score 82 points on 52% shooting Saturday, said he wasn't "a happy camper" with the team's defense. The message got through.

Washington, which returned just 35.0% of its scoring and 31.1% of its rebounding from a year ago, shot a paltry 19 of 52 (36.5%) from the floor while going just 5 for 24 (20.8%) from 3-point range.

The Bears avenged last season's loss to Washington, also in their second game of the season. Baylor led for more than 36 minutes in the game, but squandered a 13-point second-half lead and lost 67-64 in the Armed Forces Classic in Anchorage.

No. 11 Creighton 69, N. Dakota St. 58

Christian Bishop scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half, Antwann Jones fueled the decisive run in the first half, and Creighton opened the season with a victory over North Dakota State. Jones scored nine of his 11 points in succession as Creighton turned an early deficit into a lead, and Bishop had nine points in the first five minutes of the second half as the Bluejays went up by 23 points.

Creighton's opener was delayed until Sunday because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the program. The Bluejays were originally scheduled to begin the season Wednesday at the Crossover Classic in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The Bison (0-3), who shot 29% in their first two games, made 4 of its first 5 shots and led 10-4 before turning the ball over on five of six possession­s.

No. 17 Houston 64, No. 14 Texas Tech 53

Marcus Sasser scored 17 points playing close to home, Quentin Grimes added 15 and Houston never trailed in a victory over Texas Tech in a neutral-site Texas meeting in Forth Worth. Sasser, whose career high of 26 points came at SMU in Dallas as a freshman last season, was 5 of 15 from the field as the Cougars (3-0) overcame 35% shooting at Dickies Arena. That's where they are set to play in the American Athletic Conference tournament this season near downtown Fort Worth and not far from the Dallas suburb where Sasser grew up.

A 3-pointer from Grimes opened the scoring and put the Red Raiders behind for the first time this season. Texas Tech (2-1) went six minutes without scoring in the first half and trailed by 18 just 12 minutes into the game.

Mac McClung scored 16 points but missed all six of his 3-point tries for the Red Raiders, who shot 22% from long range. Freshman Micah Peavy had 12 points.

No. 18 Arizona St. 100, Houston Baptist 77

Marcus Bagley scored 21 points, fellow freshman Josh Christophe­r added 17 and Arizona State used a huge first-half run to rout Houston Baptist.

The Sun Devils (2-1) played without starting guard Alonzo Verge for unspecifie­d reasons in their home opener, but it did little to slow them down against the overmatche­d Huskies (0-2). Arizona State was much more crisp offensivel­y than in a loss to No. 3 Villanova last week, dishing out 21 assists on 36 field goals, and put the game out of reach early with a 33-3 first-half run. The Sun Devils shot 55% and went 12 for 27 from the 3-point arc against the Huskies, who had the nation's worst scoring defense last season.

Ty Dalton led Houston Baptist with 19 points.

No. 23 Ohio St. 74, UMass Lowell 64

Duane Washington Jr. scored 21 points and Ohio State had to rally from a second-half deficit to defeat UMass-Lowell. Washington took a pass from teammate C.J. Walker and hit a 3 from the left wing for a 70-63 lead with 1:07 left to all but clinch it for the Buckeyes (2-0).

Justice Sueing had 15 points and six rebounds for Ohio State. Walker added 13 points and five assists while E.J. Liddell had 11 points and eight rebounds.

Obadiah Noel, coming off a 35-point game against Illinois State on Saturday, led UMass-Lowell (1-2) with 15 points and seven rebounds. Allin Blunt and Bryce Daley each had 11 points.

No. 24 Rutgers 70, Hofstra 56

Ron Harper Jr. had 15 points and nine rebounds, Jacob Young had 17 points and Rutgers beat Hofstra.

Montez Mathis scored 14 points, and point guard Paul Mulcahy added nine rebounds and seven assists as the Scarlet Knights never trailed.

Rutgers (3-0) led 32-16 with 3:52 left in the first half before Hofstra (0-1) entered the break on a 5-0 run.

Hofstra was led by Jalen Ray with 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting.

No. 25 Michigan St. 81, Oakland 71

Isaiah Livers scored 22 points and Hunter Dickinson had all 19 of his points after halftime, helping Michigan outlast Oakland in overtime.

Dickinson, a 7-foot-1 center, scored six points early in overtime to finally give Michigan (2-0) control of a game it was expected to win easily.

The Wolverines led by eight points in the first half and trailed by as much as six in the second half in an uneven and sloppy performanc­e marred by 20 turnovers.

The Golden Grizzlies (0-4) had a chance for the third victory over a ranked team in program history and the first in a decade, but appeared to run out of energy playing in their fourth game in five days.

Jalen Moore led Oakland with 21 points, and Trey Townsend had 13.

The Wolverines had a shot to win in regulation, but struggled to get a good shot against a zone defense that gave them trouble all night.

Michigan had the ball with 26.8 seconds left after a timeout and Dickinson was left to force a jumper just before the buzzer and the game was 67-all going into overtime.

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