Ball State (11-0) survives scare

Nate Davis threw four touchdown passes, and No. 14 Ball State survived a scare from Central Michigan in a 31-24 victory last night in Mount Pleasant, Mich., that gave the Cardinals a school-record for football wins in a season.

The victory also clinched a share of the West Division of the Mid-American Conference for Ball State (11-0, 7-0), which has never played in the league title game. The Cardinals can win the division outright with a win over Western Michigan Nov. 25.

Davis hit Briggs Orsbon in the corner of the end zone from 11 yards out with 7:29 left to give Ball State a 31-24 lead. The Chippewas had a chance to tie the game in the closing minutes, but Dan LeFevour was intercepted by Sean Baker at the Ball State 9 with 35 seconds left to seal it.

Central Michigan (8-3, 6-1) can still reach the conference title game if Ball State stumbles, Western Michigan defeats Eastern Michigan, and a number of other tiebreakers come through.

Men's basketball
Harvard 80, New Hampshire 69 - Matt Kenyi had 17 points and Jeremy Lin and Keith Wright each had 15 to lead the Crimson to a season-opening victory over the Wildcats in Durham, N.H.

Wright's layup put Harvard ahead to stay, 8-7, then Kenyi had 5 points in a 14-2 run. That stretched a 24-20 lead to 38-22. Harvard led, 48-33, at the half.

Tyrone Conley scored a season-high 21 points, including four 3-pointers, for New Hampshire. Tyrece Gibbs added 12 points and Alvin Abreu 10.

Harvard (27 of 44) shot 61 percent from the field. New Hampshire (25 of 62) managed only 40 percent.

Michigan St. 70, IPFW 59 - Raymar Morgan scored 8 of his 22 points during a decisive 13-0 run in Fort Wayne, Ind., and the No. 5 Spartans survived a scare from the Mastodons.

Michigan State (2-0) led, 32-24, at halftime, but opened the second half making just 1 of 10 shots. They fell behind twice by 3 points to IPFW (0-2), which lost its opener to Xavier by 28.

Wake Forest 120, UNC-Wilmington 88 - Jeff Teague scored a career-high 31 points, James Johnson added 25, and the No. 20 Demon Deacons beat the Seahawks in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Chas McFarland had 19 points for the Demon Deacons (2-0), in a game that featured plenty of transition buckets and quick shots for both teams.

Villanova 77, Niagara 62 - Scottie Reynolds scored 19 points, Corey Fisher had 15, and Reggie Redding added 14 to lead the No. 23 host Wildcats past the pesky Purple Eagles.

Playing their third game in six days, the banged-up Wildcats (3-0) were just vulnerable enough to be severely tested at home by Niagara.

Brown 62, Holy Cross 57 - Matt Mullery scored 18 points, had 5 rebounds and 3 blocked shots to lift the Bears to an upset win over the Crusaders in Worcester for their first victory. Colin Cunningham led Holy Cross with 11 points and eight rebounds.

Albany 76, Bryant 67 - Tim Ambrose scored 24 points and had eight rebounds to lift the Great Danes over the Bulldogs in host Bryant's first Division 1 contest. Barry Latham led Bryant with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

Maine 58, Princeton 55 - Two free throws by Junior Bernal and another by Andrew Rogers in the final 1:31 of overtime enabled the Black Bears (3-0) to defeat the host Tigers. Maine forced OT by going on a 7-1 run over the final four minutes of regulation.

Women's basketball
Oklahoma 85, Middle Tennessee 64 - Ashley Paris scored 21 points, Amanda Thompson added 20, and the No. 2 Sooners got acclimated to their highest ranking in school history with a victory over the Blue Raiders in Norman, Okla.

North Carolina 73, Xavier 67 - Rashanda McCants scored 20 of her 27 points in the second half to rally the No. 4 Tar Heels over No. 23 Musketeers in the Preseason NIT in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Vanderbilt 80, Eastern Kentucky 38 - Christina Wirth scored 16 points, including four 3-pointers, to help the host No. 13 Commodores.

Notre Dame 96, Evansville 61 - Ashley Barlow scored 19 points and the No. 15 Fighting Irish forced 31 turnovers in a victory over the Purple Aces in South Bend, Ind.

Ohio St. 78, Syracuse 71 - Jantel Lavender had 22 points and 10 rebounds, Samantha Prahalis added 17 points, and Brittany Johnson scored 15 to lead the No. 17 Buckeyes over the Orangewomen in Columbus, Ohio.

Auburn 71, Georgia Southern 45 - Alli Smalley scored 12 of her 18 points in the second half to help the No. 20 Tigers rout the Eagles in Statesboro, Ga.

UMass 67, UNH 51 - Cerie Mosgrove and Stefanie Gerardot each scored 14 points to lift the Minutewomen over the Wildcats in Amherst.