By LARRY LAGE
AP Sports Writer
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Paul Davis scored 19 points and Tom Izzo won his 200th game in Michigan State’s 89-72 victory over Iowa on Wednesday night.
Izzo became just the eighth coach to reach 200 victories in his first nine years among coaches with at least half of their seasons at a Division I school. The other coaches are Roy Williams, Everett Case, Denny Crum, Jerry Tarkanian, John Calipari, Tubby Smith and Jim Boeheim.
The Spartans (11-8, 6-2 Big Ten) have won six of seven since losing the conference opener at Wisconsin and falling to 5-7 overall. Michigan State is alone in second place, a half-game behind the Badgers.
Iowa’s Jeff Horner and Pierre Pierce each scored 21 for the Hawkeyes (11-8, 4-4), who had won 2-of-3. Greg Brunner had 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Kelvin Torbert scored 18 for the Spartans, Chris Hill had 15 and Alan Anderson added 12. Shannon Brown and Jason Andreas scored eight apiece.
Michigan State won its 10th straight game against Iowa at the Breslin Center, where the Spartans are 42-2 against Big Ten teams since 1998-99.
The Spartans took control of the game for good by outscoring Iowa 22-11 during the final six minutes of the first half to lead 50-35 at halftime. It was their highest scoring first half of the season, and their second straight 50-point half.
After Iowa trailed by 22 midway through the second half, it pulled to within 12 with 3:56 left, but couldn’t get closer.
Michigan State made 51.7 percent of its shots and limited Iowa to 41.1 percent.