#19 Jays Rally To Shock Wichita State, 70-69
3/9/2003 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
St. Louis, Mo--Creighton overcame a 40-30 halftime deficit to post a 70-69 victory over Wichita State and advance to the MVC Tournament finals for the fourth time in five years. A Valley Tournament record crowd of 15,703 witnessed CU's second-straight one-point victory and secure a highly anticipated match-up with league champion Southern Illinois in Monday's final.
Creighton fell behind 16-14 on a jumper by Aaron Hogg with 10:45 left in the first half and headed into the locker room down 40-30. Randy Burns had 15 points for WSU in the opening stanza as the Shockers shot 58.6 percent and had just four turnovers.
Trailing by nine early in the second half, CU unleashed a 7-0 run to close within 44-42. Brody Deren and Michael Lindeman made free throws to sandwich a Kyle Korver three-point basket. A minute later, a trifecta by freshman Nate Funk narrowed the gap to 46-45.
CU tied the game at 49 on a lay-up by Mike Grimes, but was unable to take the lead right away. CU knotted the game at 54-54 on a trey by Korver, and then again at 57-57 on three Korver free throws. Two more Korver free throws evened the game at 61. Grimes gave CU its first lead of the second half with 5:10 remaining when he made a pair of free throws to put CU up 63-61.
Trailing by one after Hogg's lay-up, Creighton took the lead for good with 1:32 to play on Korver's fourth trey of the night. Korver lost MVC Defensive Player of the Year Jamar Howard on a screen and after receiving a pass from Tyler McKinney, hit nothing but net to make it 68-66 in favor of the Jays.
After Hogg missed a jumper that could have tied it with 1:02 left, Howard forced a steal to give the Shockers another opportunity to win. A beatifully executed play following a Shockers timeout got Randy Burns an open look from the top of the key, but Deren hauled down his seventh rebound and was immediately fouled by Howard.
Deren, a 34.8 percent free throw shooter, missed both shots at the stripe. However, CU senior DeAnthony Bowden snuck up on Burns from behind and tipped the ball to teammate Larry House, who called timeout.
House then iced the game with a thunderous slam dunk after taking the inbounds pass from Lindeman to make it 70-66. Burns hit a three-pointer with 0.4 seconds left, to end the scoring.
Creighton placed five players in double-figures, led by 19 from Korver and 12 from House. Nate Funk, Grimes and Deren each chipped in 10 points as well. The Jays shot 54.5 percent in the second half and 49.0 percent for the game. CU also outrebounded the Shockers 32-25 on the glass.
In addition to 21 from Burns, Hogg had a dozen points off the bench for WSU. The Shockers shot 52.8 percent for the game but were plagued by 10 turnovers in the second half.
With the win, Creighton is now 28-4 and advances to play Southern Illinois (24-5), a 64-55 winner over SMS. The game will start at 8 p.m. and be televised nationally on ESPN.
