Creighton University
Missouri State
Men's Basketball Routs Missouri State, 75-51
2/1/2009 4:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball
OMAHA, Neb. -- Kenton Walker had a career-high 15 points to lead four players in double-figures as Creighton used a big second half to defeat Missouri State, 75-51, on Sunday afternoon before 15,802 fans at Qwest Center Omaha.
The Bluejays broke free from a 31-29 halftime lead by outscoring the Bears 44-22 after intermission while claiming their largest margin of victory during a Missouri Valley Conference contest this season. Creighton is now 17-6 (7-4 MVC) and tied with Bradley and Illinois State for second in the league standings, while Missouri State fell to 9-13 overall and 2-9 in the MVC.
Missouri State raced to an 18-9 start in the opening eight minutes, with the final six points coming on consecutive three-pointers by MSU freshman Kyle Weems. Weems drained yet another three-pointer to end a five-minute Bears drought, giving MSU a 21-11 lead that was its largest of the game.
Creighton started its comeback with a lay-up from Antoine Young, a three-pointer from Booker Woodfox and reverse lay-up from Kenny Lawson Jr to close within 21-19. Following an MSU score, Woodfox would score four straight to tie it at 23. CU took a 25-24 lead on a hoop by Walker, then extend the margin to 29-24 after a pair of free throws by Justin Carter. MSU responded with five straight points to knot the score at 29 before a Lawson tip-dunk closed out the first-half scoring with CU leading, 31-29.
Creighton came out strong, opening the second half with a 15-4 spurt to build a 46-33 lead. Josh Dotzler opened the scoring with a rare three-pointer. After a MSU basket, P'Allen Stinnett would then drain a three-pointer for his first points. The next trip down Woodfox found a cutting Stinnett for an alley-oop and Carter followed with a steal and score as the lead went to 41-33. Walker would then score five straight points, including a three-point play to cap the burst that left CU with a 13-point lead.
Missouri State scored six in a row to trim the deficit to 46-39 on fast break from Chris Cooks with 14:13 left before the hosts broke away for good. Stinnett converted a traditional three-point play in transition, then scored off an inbounds feed from Dotzler. CU's lead improved to 53-39 on a fast break dunk from Carter and 56-39 after another trey from Woodfox.
Creighton's lead would eventually reach 24 on a pair of occasions, including the final score of 75-51. Cavel Witter topped off the scoring with two free throws with 2:26 to play, securing free pizza as part of a local Godfather's Pizza promotion when the Jays score 75 or more at home.
Walker scored 15 points to lead Creighton. Also in double-figures was Carter (12), Stinnett (12) and Woodfox (11). CU shot 60 percent in the second half (18-30) to move its shooting percentage to 46.0 percent overall. CU was 6-of-17 from three-point range and 64.7 percent at the line (11-17). Lawson led CU with eight rebounds as well as matching his season-best with four blocked shots. Carter had seven rebounds while Kaleb Korver equalled his best with six caroms. Creighton outscored MSU 35-9 off the bench and 38-18 in the paint.
MSU was paced by 15 pionts and 12 rebounds from Kyle Weems. Chris Cooks added 11 points and nine rebounds for MSU, while Cardell McFarland scored 14. The Bears shot 30.2 percent for the game (16-53), including 4-of-21 from three-point range and 15-of-18 (83.3 percent) at the line. MSU was done in by 16 turnovers, which the Jays converted into 25 points.
Creighton returns to action on Wednesday with a 7:05 pm game at Drake. The game can be heard on KXSP (Big Sports 590 AM) and will be televised on KMTV.
NOTES: Coaches from both teams wore white tennis shoes as part of the Coaches vs. Cancer "Suits and Sneakers Awareness Weekend", while the referee crew used pink whistles as part of the fight against cancer awareness campaign ...Casey Harriman made his first career start in place of P'Allen Stinnett. Harriman had come off the bench the first 54 contests of his career ...Creighton has now fallen behind by 10 or more points in 24 all-time games at Qwest Center Omaha and rallied to win 16 of those 24 ...This was the third such comeback against Missouri State in their six trips to the facility ...Missouri State became the first team to shoot 75 percent or better at the line against CU in the past 15 contests ...Creighton is now 3-1 all-time on Super Bowl Sunday ...Booker Woodfox has made a three-pointer in 19 straight games and Creighton has hit one in 489 consecutive games ...Dana Altman now has 299 wins at Creighton ...Creighton has won 56 straight games when scoring 75 or more points and 48 wins in a row at home when scoring 68 points or more. ...Creighton is expected to learn its Feb. 21 ESPNU Bracketbusters opponent on Monday in a 5:30 pm selection show on ESPNU. Gametimes and television coverage won't be announced until a week later ...Creighton's 38 points in the paint and +20 margin in the paint were both season highs ...Creighton has outrebounded consecutive Valley schools for the first time this season ...Creighton surpassed the 200,000 fan mark for the fifth straight season, upping its 2008-09 home crowd total to 208,565. No other MVC school has ever had more than 192,000 home fans in any season of the 102-year history of the Valley.
