The Associated Press

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Chris Thomas had 32 points and 10 assists, and Notre Dame survived nearly blowing a 17-point first-half lead to beat No.13 Marquette 92-71 Monday night.

Thomas was 7-of-9 from the field in the second half, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range and matched his career high for points, set last season against Rutgers. The sophomore guard also had five rebounds.

Danny Miller added 20 points and seven rebounds for Notre Dame (5-1), which had five players score in double figures and shot 50 percent.

The Golden Eagles (4-1) cut the lead to 67-63 when Travis Diener made two free throws with 9:28 left, capping a 14-6 run that included three-point plays by Robert Jackson and Dwyane Wade. But Thomas hit three 3-pointers in a 17-6 run that gave the Irish an 84-69 lead.

MARQUETTE (4-1)-Townsend 2-4 1-2 7, Merritt 6-11 0-0 12, Jackson 5-8 2-2 12, Wade 7-19 5-7 19, Diener 6-15 4-4 18, Bradley 0-1 0-0 0, Novak 1-2 0-0 3, Chapman 0-2 0-0 0, Sanders 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-63 12-15 71.

NOTRE DAME (6-1)-Miller 7-13 2-2 20, Francis 3-6 5-7 11, Timmermans 1-2 0-0 2, Thomas 12-18 3-4 32, Carroll 5-18 3-6 14, Quinn 5-8 0-0 12, Jones 0-1 1-4 1. Totals 33-66 14-23 92.

Halftime-Notre Dame 42-30. 3-Point goals-Marquette 5-17 (Townsend 2-4, Diener 2-8, Novak 1-2, Merritt 0-1, Wade 0-1, Chapman 0-1), Notre Dame 12-30 (Thomas 5-8, Miller 4-7, Quinn 2-4, Carroll 1-11). Fouled out-Townsend. Rebounds-Marquette 30 (Merritt 9), Notre Dame 44 (Francis 13). Assists-Marquette 12 (Townsend, Wade 4), Notre Dame 18 (Thomas 10).

Total fouls-Marquette 24, Notre Dame 18. A-11,418.

No. 15 Missouri 98, Sacramento St. 60

COLUMBIA, Mo. - After another slow start, No. 15 Missouri used a big second half to rout another nonconference opponent.

Arthur Johnson scored a career-high 24 points and Rickey Paulding added 17 as the Tigers beat Sacramento State 98-60 on Monday night.

Johnson, who also had 10 rebounds, scored 12 of Missouri's first 20 points of the second half after the Tigers managed only a 10-point lead at the break. Missouri outscored Sacramento State 48-20 in the second half.

"I thought we defended well again tonight and we played a good team," Missouri coach Quin Snyder said. "I think when opposing guys are making good plays, you can get out of character. You can get almost overaggressive in your help."

After Sacramento State made the first shot of the second half, Missouri went on a 12-0 run to make it 62-42 with 16:30 left. The lead jumped to 77-50 on a 3-pointer by freshman Jimmy McKinney with 10:32 left.

The loss was the Hornets' 39th straight on the road and it was Sacramento State's first game against a ranked opponent since facing then-No. 2 Stanford on Dec. 18, 1999.

Center Tony Champion had all but two of his career-high 16 points in the first half for the Hornets and DeShawn Freeman added eight assists.

Point guard Ricky Clemons had 17 points and McKinney added 11 for Missouri, which beat Austin Peay 81-46 on Saturday.

"They really turned it up on us in the second half," Sacramento State coach Jerome Jenkins said. "I think we played a very good first half, but I know we were tired in the second half. They shot the ball very, very well in the second half and that helped them win the basketball game."

Missouri (3-0) shot 57.6 percent in the second half while the Hornets (1-3) made just 27.6.

Missouri shot 57.6 percent in the second half while the Hornets were at 27.6 percent.

Sacramento State, which averaged 58.5 points entering the game, led 7-2 on four inside points from Champion. The Hornets took a 16-11 lead with 14:49 left in the first half then Missouri went on a 13-0 run ignited by a 3-pointer by Paulding and a steal by Clemons who passed to McKinney for an acrobatic move to the basket. During a three-minute span in that run, the Hornets didn't take a shot.

"You can't beat a team in the first four minutes," Paulding said. "That's one of our main goals is to grind it out, not try to kill the team in the first four minutes, because that's not going to happen. I think we tried to put up good defense throughout the game, and I think it shows."

Missouri, which led 50-40 at halftime, had nine steals in the opening 20 minutes as the Hornets committed 13 turnovers.

No. 24 Mississippi St. 100, Alabama A&M 58

STARKVILLE, Miss. - Marcus Campbell is showing signs of progress for Mississippi State in the absence of center Mario Austin.

The 7-foot Campbell had a career-high 16 points as the 24th-ranked Bulldogs had no problems beating Alabama A&M 100-58 Monday night.

Timmy Bowers added 19 points for Mississippi State, which shot a season-high 58 percent.

The Bulldogs (3-1) were playing their fourth straight game without Austin, who is being held out pending an NCAA ruling on his eligibility.

Campbell has been splitting time at center with Lincoln Smith while Austin sits. Campbell has scored 30 points in the last two games after getting just eight in the first two.

"I'm just getting my feet grounded. I've been working to correct the mistakes I've been making and get better every time out," the sophomore said.

After taking a second look at Austin's high school academic records, the NCAA determined two weeks ago that the junior was erroneously declared eligible as a freshman in 2000.

Austin's attorney submitted additional information to the NCAA last week, and hopes to have a ruling soon. Austin's attorney said the NCAA is considering making Austin sit out this season.

If Austin can't play, Mississippi State will need Campbell and Smith to produce in the paint.

"This team right now has to establish the game on the inside," Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said. "And we've made some strides the last two games."

Campbell had 14 points against Jacksonville on Saturday.

The Bulldogs lost their opener to Louisiana-Lafayette without Austin, who led the team in scoring and rebounding last season. But they have hardly missed the 6-9, 260-pound Austin in their last three games, winning them by an average of 31 points.

Campbell said Austin has given him a few tips and lots of encouragement.

"He shows me some stuff he does," Campbell said.

Garik Nicholson scored 14 points, Obie Trotter had 13 and Anthony Hayes 11 for Alabama A&M (1-2).

At times the game looked like little more than a layup drill for Mississippi State, running and dunk almost at will.

Derrick Zimmerman provided some high-flying antics for the small home crowd in the second half when he grabbed a lob from Ontario Harper, dunked the ball and smacked the backboard on the way down.

The move drew cheers and a technical foul. It also made the score 89-51 with 7:27 left.

Zimmerman, who was celebrating his 21st birthday, said he made a similar move earlier in the season and didn't get called for the technical.

"It was so obvious and I slapped it so hard, I guess they thought they had to call it," he said.

Alabama A&M finally took to holding the ball four-corners style over the final four minutes to try to keep Mississippi State from reaching 100 points.

It didn't work. Stephen Cowherd hit a layup with less than a minute left, and Mississippi State reached the century mark for the second straight game.

Mississippi State scored 47 points off 26 turnovers.

"Nobody can win with 26 turnovers," Nicholson said.

Alabama A&M kept it close for about 11 minutes. Trotter made two free throws with 9:01 left to cut the lead to 24-20.

Mississippi State scored the next seven points sandwiching layups by Zimmerman and Bowers around Winsome Frazier's 3-pointer.

The Bulldogs ended the half on a 32-9 run, then scored the first six points of the second half, starting with a dunk by Bowers off an alley-oop pass from Harper.

Harper scored 15 points and Michael Ignerski had 13 for Mississippi State.

Division II Men

NKU-UMSL: Brenden Stowers scored 18 points as Northern Kentucky defeated Missouri-St.Louis 73-54 at Regents Hall. Quentin Smith added 13 points and eight rebounds for the Norse, who improved to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

NKU shot 61.5 percent from the field in the second half to pull away from Missouri-St. Louis (3-2, 1-1 GLVC).

NORTHERN KENTUCKY 73, MO-ST. LOUIS 54

MO.-ST. LOUIS (54)--Wells 2-7 1-3 5, Saine 2-6 3-4 7, Samuels 5-8 0-0 11, Banks 3-7 0-0 9, Griffin 0-4 0-2 0, Fisher 1-4 0-1 2, Foust 1-2 0-0 3, Keller 3-4 0-0 6, Adamonis 5-7 0-3 11, Pratt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-49 4-13 54.

Northern Kentucky (73)--St-Preux 2-4 0-0 4, Rupe 3-4 0-0 6, Seabrooks 5-6 1-1 11, J. Stowers 1-3 0-0 2, Kelsey 4-10 3-3 12, Howell 2-6 1-2 7, Smith 6-12 1-3 13, B. Stowers 4-5 8-11 18, Rowland 0-0 0-0 0, Murphy 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-50 14-20 73.

Halftime: NKU 27, MSL 24. 3-point goals: Mo.-St. Louis 6-15 (Wells 0-1, Samuels 1-2, Banks 3-6, Fisher 0-1, Foust 1-2, Adamonis 1-3), Northern Kentucky 5-11 (St-Preux 0-1, J. Stowers 0-1, Kelsey 1-3, Howell 2-3, B. Stowers 2-3). Rebounds: Mo.-St. Louis 27 (Griffin 4), Northern Kentucky 31 (Smith 8). Assists: Mo.-St. Louis 12 (Banks, Fisher, Keller 3), Northern Kentucky 10 (B. Stowers 3). Records: MSL 3-2, 1-1 GLVC; NKU 5-0, 2-0.

Division II Women

NKU-UMSL: Elizabeth Burrows scored a career-high 15 points and had four assists to lead NKU past Missouri-St.Louis 73-43 at Regents Hall. The Norse won their third consecutive game, going to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

NORTHERN KENTUCKY 73, MO.-ST. LOUIS 43

Mo.-St. Louis (43)--Lane 2-8 2-2 6, Woods 1-4 0-2 2, Mauck 1-3 0-0 3, Halliburton 2-12 5-6 9, Ruffin 0-7 0-0 0, Ordner 0-1 0-0 0, Carter 0-0 0-0 0, Hyslop 3-9 2-4 9, Cartwright 2-2 0-0 4, Benion 5-9 0-0 10. Totals 16-55 9-14 43.

Northern Kentucky (73)--Mobley 5-12 2-2 13, Polosky 3-9 2-3 9, Myers 6-11 1-3 13, Burrows 5-6 2-2 15, Flanagan 5-10 0-0 13, Newton 0-1 0-0 0, Marx 0-1 0-0 0, Sterling 0-2 0-2 0, Snardon 3-5 2-4 8, Phillips 1-3 0-0 2, Brock 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 28-63 9-16 73.

Halftime: NKU 44, MSL 21. 3-point goals: Mo.-St. Louis 2-20 (Lane 0-3, Mauck 1-2, Halliburton 0-4, Ruffin 0-5, Hyslop 1-6), Northern Kentucky 8-21 (Mobley 1-4, Polosky 1-4, Burrows 3-4, Flanagan 3-8, Brock 0-1). Rebouds: Mo.-St. Louis 28 (Halliburton 4), Northern Kentucky 51 (Mobley 7). Assists: Mo.-St. Louis 9 (Halliburton 5), Northern Kentucky 22 (Polosky 8). Records: MSL 3-2, 0-2 GLVC; NKU 3-1 2-0.