Creighton University
Southern Illinois
Men's Basketball Routs SIU, 72-53
2/10/2008 9:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
OMAHA, Neb. -- Booker Woodfox scored 20 points off the bench and freshman Kenny Lawson Jr. had nine points and 11 rebounds to key Creighton to a 72-53 win over Southern Illinois on Sunday night in Omaha.
Creighton moves into sole possession of third place (17-6, 8-5 MVC), while SIU drops to 12-12 overall (7-6 MVC).
After preseason MVC Player of the Year Randal Falker scored inside on SIU's first possession, Creighton scored 10 straight and led by six or more the rest of the night. Five of those points came from dynamic freshman P'Allen Stinnett, who would finish with 14 points and three steals.
The Creighton lead hit double-digits at 14-4 after just six minutes when Woodfox hit 2-of-3 free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt. The Jays would play with a double-digit lead for the final 30:26 of the contest.
The Jays led 45-26 after shooting 60 percent in the opening half. The 45 points were one more than the team total for the entire game in the Jan. 26 meeting in Carbondale, and the sixth-largest halftime lead at Qwest Center. Woodfox had 16 of those points, hitting 5-of-6 first half shots.
In the second half remained in control, with SIU coming closest at 64-50 with 4:19 to play. But CU stemmed any comeback with the next five points, including a trey from Cavel Witter after Stinnett's diving steal and timeout on the defensive end.
In addition to 20 points from Woodfox, Stinnett had 14 points and three steals. The Jays shot 46 percent for the game and hit 7-of-18 three-point shots. The Jays forced 23 turnovers and owned a 29-7 advantage in points off turnovers.
SIU got 11 points from Mullins and eight points from Matt Shaw, who also grabbed 10 rebounds. Falker had just seven points and only one rebound before fouling out. The Salukis shot just 45.2 percent for the game and won the rebounding battle, 30-29.
Creighton returns to play Wednesday with a 7 pm game at Evansville. The game can be heard on KXSP (Big Sports 590 AM) and will not be televised.
NOTES: The crowd of 15,834 moved CU's season attendance at home to 236,601. That's a new MVC single-season record ...SIU coach Chris Lowery was whistled for a technical foul with 8:58 left and his team down by 20 ...Kenny Lawson Jr.'s 11 rebounds were a career-high. He missed his first career double-double when he missed a free throw with nine seconds left ...Dane Watts played in his 62nd game at Qwest Center Omaha, most by any player in facility history. He had been tied with Anthony Tolliver for the mark.
