Thursday's college basketball: Michigan State women hold off Notre Dame

Notre Dame, Ind. — Nia Clouden scored a career-high 28 points and No. 16 Michigan State held off No. 15 Notre Dame’s late rally for a 72-69 victory on Thursday night.

Clouden made four 3-pointers and was 9 of 21 from the field. Taryn McCutheon added 12 points for Michigan State (3-0).

Sam Brunelle and Katlyn Gilbert scored 19 points apiece to lead Notre Dame (2-2), which has lost two straight games.

The Irish rallied from a 13-point deficit late in the third quarter, using a 15-5 run to pull to 58-57 with 5:30 to play. Victoria Gaines made a layup and Tory Ozment added a 3 and to stretch the Spartans’ lead to 63-57 with about three minutes remaining in the game.

Brunelle’s 3-pointer got the Irish within 70-69 with 10 seconds left, but McCutcheon made a pair of free throws to seal it for the Spartans.

More state women

(At) No. 9 Louisville 76, Central Michigan 63: Jazmine Jones scored 25 and Dana Evans had 24, both career highs, to lead Louisville to the victory.

The Cardinals (3-0) shot just 37.3 percent, but Jones, five days after going 6-for-6 in a win over Murray State, made 10 of 13 baskets against the Chippewas (0-2). She added nine rebounds.

While the Chippewas held the rest of the Cardinals’ shooters in check, they only shot 38.8 percent while they committed 19 turnovers.

Central Michigan did not make a field goal the last 5:36.

Evans, a junior guard, scored 11 of her points in the third quarter as Louisville was able to pull away from Central Michigan, the three-time defending Mid-American Conference regular-season champion.

Micaela Kelly led the Chippewas with 23 points, making 11 of 15 free throws.

(At) Western Michigan 80, Kentucky State 41: The Broncos raced out to a 23-0 lead in a game that’s an exhibition for Kentucky State, but counts for Western Michigan (1-1).

Jordan Walker scored 19 and Breanna Mobley had 13 rebounds for the Broncos.

State men

(At) Eastern Michigan 72, Michigan-Dearborn 59: Boubacar Toure had a double-double, Chris James had 15 points off the bench, and Eastern Michigan earned the win.

Boubacar Toure finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds. Noah Morgan added 12 points and Yeikson Montero scored 10 for Eastern Michigan (3-0).

Cody Kegley had 14 points, six rebounds and five steals for the Wolves. Jason Gigliotti added 12 points and nine rebounds.

Michigan-Dearborn is 6-2.

Big Ten men

Penn State 81, (at) Georgetown 66: Myreon Jones scored a career-high 21 as Penn State led by as many as 18 in a win over in the Gavitt Tipoff Games.

Jones scored 14 of the Nittany Lions first 16 points, including four 3-pointers. Penn State (3-0) jumped out to a 25-7 lead after a Myles Dread 3-pointer. Dread finished with 14 points while Lamar Stevens had 14 points and nine rebounds. Jones was 5 for 8 from beyond the arc.

Omer Yurtseven had 16 points and 10 rebounds to record his third straight double-double for Georgetown (2-1) after transferring from N.C. State.

Top 25 men

(At) No. 15 Florida 66, Towson 60: Freshman Scottie Lewis scored 15 points in his first start, and Florida escaped with a victory over Towson.

Graduate transfer Kerry Blackshear Jr. had 13 points and 13 rebounds in his third game with his new team as Florida (2-1) bounced back from a dispiriting home loss to Florida State. Andrew Nembhard had 11 points and nine assists for the Gators.

Allen Bertrand scored 14 points for the Tigers (2-2), and his 3-pointer with 5:46 remaining gave Towson its last lead at 57-55. But the Tigers struggled from there, going 1 for 6 from the field as Florida ended the game with a 6-0 run.

(At) No. 19 Arizona 87, San Jose State 39: Zeke Nnaji scored 26 points, made all eight of his shots and grabbed 11 rebounds, helping Arizona trounce San Jose State.

Arizona (3-0) dominated a third straight opponent to open the season, shutting down the Spartans (1-2) defensively from the opening tip.

Nnaji continued the efficient shooting to start his college career. He is a combined 25 for 31 through three games, and he also was 10 of 12 on free throws against the Spartans.

Eduardo Lane led San Jose State with nine points.