Creighton University
Nebraska
Lawson's Career Night Lifts Men's Hoops Past Huskers, 67-61
12/6/2009 6:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
OMAHA, Neb. -- Kenny Lawson Jr. had a career-high 25 points to go with 10 rebounds for his first career double-double, leading host Creighton past Nebraska, 67-61, on Sunday before 16,739 fans at Qwest Center Omaha.
Creighton snapped a three-game losing streak to improve to 3-4 on the season, while Nebraska fell to 5-2 with the setback.
The double-double for Lawson was the first by any current Bluejay and made him Creighton's first player with 25 points and 10 rebounds in the same game since Anthony Tolilver had 26 points and 10 rebounds against Xavier on Dec. 18, 2005.
Trailing 9-6 early, Creighton unleashed a 13-0 run to build its largest lead of the first half at 19-9. Nebraska would methodically come back though, tightening its defense to hold CU without a bucket for nearly six minutes to move ahead 22-21. The Jays would close the first half with a 7-2 run, going ahead 32-27 on a lay-in at the buzzer by Antoine Young.
The Jays trailed 46-43 with nine minutes to play, but Lawson would make four straight free throws to give CU the lead for good. Wayne Runnels would follow with a spin move to give CU a 49-46 lead with 8:06 left. Runnels (4 points) and Lawson (6) scored all 10 points during CU's 10-2 run that put them up five with five minutes to play. The Huskers would get as close as two points on a trey by Lance Jeter before Lawson flushed an alley-oop off a feed from Stinnett with 2:08 to play that gave CU a two-score margin the rest of the way. Creighton's lead reached as large as 67-59 before Sek Henry's uncontested dunk with 3.2 seconds remaining closed the scoring for the afternoon.
Creighton outrebounded NU 31-25 and forced Nebraska into 20 turnovers. The Bluejays shot 43.5 percent for the game (20-46) despite just 1-of-10 accuracy from long-range. CU also made 26-of-32 shots at the line, good for 81.3 percent. In addition to 25 points from Lawson, Cavel Witter had a season-high 13 points. Antoine Young also had his best game of the regular-season so far, finishing with nine points and three assists in 35 minutes on the floor.
Nebraska shot an even 50 percent for the contest (24-48), but made just 4-of-18 from downtown (22.2 percent) and 9-of-14 at the line (64.3 percent). Jeter led NU with 12 points while Henry and Ray Gallegos each scored 10.
NOTES: Creighton has now won seven straight regular-season home games over Nebraska and 11 straight regular-season home games against BCS schools ...Creighton is now 23-1 all-time at Qwest Center Omaha against opponents that enter a game with one loss or less ...Creighton has now won 23 straight home games when it brings a losing streak of two or longer into the contest ...Dana Altman is now 16-0 in Creighton's third home game of the season and he's won 20 straight if you include his four years at Kansas State ...The game was the first of eight scheduled telecasts by KMTV this season ...Lawson made 11-of-12 free throws to spearhead a Bluejay effort that saw CU hit 26-of-32 at the stripe ...Lawson's previous career high of 18 points came last Sunday against Iona ...Creighton had made four or more three-pointers in 74 straight games before a 1-for-10 showing today. The make, a trey by Darryl Ashford in the first half, give CU at least one trifecta in a Valley-best 508 straight games ...Creighton's one three-pointer made tied for the fewest in Dana Altman's 16 years as a head coach, as CU was 1-for-8 from downtown vs. Southern Illinois on Jan. 20, 2007.
