Creighton University
Evansville
Lawson Delivers In 72-64 Road Win at Evansville
1/3/2010 4:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Kenny Lawson Jr. had 18 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high seven blocked shots to lead the Creighton men's basketball team to a 72-64 road win at Evansville on Sunday at Roberts Stadium.
Creighton is now 6-8 on the year and 1-2 in the MVC, while Evansville fell to 6-7 and is winless in three Valley outings.
After facing an early 5-3 deficit, Creighton started hitting from the outside. Cavel Witter hit a three-pointer in transition to give CU a 10-8 lead. Casey Harriman and Kenny Lawson Jr. scored inside before Harriman drained his second trey of the season to put the Jays up 20-12.
The Jays built up a 34-23 lead with some points from some unlikely sources. First Chad Millard scored on a spin move in the paint, his first points since last January 6th. After a Darryl Ashford putback the next trip down, Millard would help force a steal and the Kaleb Korver scored in transition for just the 11th two-pointer of his career. CU's lead reached double-digits for the first time of the afternoon when Lawson broke through a double-team to find Harriman for a lay-in.
The Jays took a pair of 14 point leads in the first half, going ahead 39-25 on an Ethan Wragge trey and then 42-28 on a Witter trifecta. UE would answer with a four-point play from freshman sensation Colt Ryan before CU's Lawson closed the scoring with a basket inside.
Ten different men combined to make 18 field goals in the first half for Creighton, led by 10 points form Lawson. The Jays shot 56.3 percent in the first half, dished 12 assists, and out-boarded the bigger Aces 19-12 at the break. Ryan led UE with 11 points at the break, as the Aces had six of their 11 buckets come from three-point land.
Creighton was held to just one field goal in the opneing five minutes of the second half as UE closed within nine points at 49-40 before a drive to the hoop from Justin Carter returned the led to double-digits.
Freshmen guards Troy Taylor, Ned Cox and Ryan helped get UE back within six points at 54-48 with 11:33 left in the game. Taylor put back an offensive board and then fed Cox for a breakaway jam to get the Roberts Stadium crowd excited. Ryan would convert an old-fashioned three-point play to make it a 7-0 run and Pieter van Tongeren capped the 9-0 run with a score inside before Witter answered the score to end the run.
The Aces kept up the pressure though and would retake the lead at 58-56 with 7:32 left on the second of consecutive treys from triples from Ryan. That capped a 17-2 run for the hosts.
The Jays regained the lead on a jump-hook and free-throw by Lawson, 63-60, with 4:57 remaining. The junior big man would score again with 3:30 to play to push the Bluejay lead to five. After UE answered, CU guard P'Allen Stinnett would score his first points of the day on a huge three-pointer from he right corner, to make it 68-62.
Creighton held the Purple Aces to just one basket in the final 3:15 to earn its first road victory on the season.
Ryan led UE with 26 points before fouling out in the final 20 seconds, including six baskets from behind the arc.
Lawson had 18 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks to lead CU in all three categories. Justin Carter had 14 points and eight rebounds, and Cavel Witter had 12 points and four assists off the bench. The Jays shot 45.8 percent for the game, 7-of-23 from downtown for the game (30.4 percent) and were 11-of-20 (55 percent) from the stripe.
Creighton returns home to host Drake on Wednesday in a 7:05 pm tip from Qwest Center Omaha.
NOTES: Chad Millard scored on a spin move in traffic with 5:41 left in the first half, his first points since since scoring on January 6, 2009 against Northern Iowa (20 games played for Millard) ...Kenny Lawson Jr. had a season-best seven blocked shots to become the seventh Bluejay to move over 100 for his career ...Kenny Lawson Jr. became Creighton's first player with consecutive double-doubles since Anthony Tolliver in 2006 ...Kenny Lawson Jr.'s seven blocks were the most by a CU player since Doug Swenson had eight swats at UMKC on Nov. 18, 1998 ...Creighton's nine blocked shots were a season-high ..Creighton won its first game away from Qwest Center Omaha this season after losing its previous seven games away from home.
