Creighton University
Bradley
Record Crowd Sees Men's Hoops Win 20th vs. Bradley
1/28/2012 9:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball
OMAHA, Neb. -- The largest home crowd in school history, 18,436, was on hand Saturday night as No. 15 Creighton defeated Bradley, 73-59. The victory secures a 20-win season for the 13th time in the last 14 years for Creighton (20-2, 10-1 MVC), and was the program's 10th straight win.
Bradley dropped to 6-17 with the setback, and is 1-10 in MVC action.
Creighton's win, combined with Drake's 93-86 triple-overtime win over Wichita State, gives the Bluejays a one-game lead in the Missouri Valley Conference standings with seven league contests left.
Creighton fell behind 11-5 in the early minutes before Gregory Echenique had six points during a 13-2 run gave it the lead for good. Creighton led 33-21 late in the first half before Bradley scored the final seven points of the half to close within five at intermission.
In the second half, Bradley trimmed Creighton's 46-34 lead down to three (48-45) with 10 minutes to go, but the Jays responded with a lay-up from Doug McDermott and three-pointers by Avery Dingman and Ethan Wragge to return the lead to double-figures. CU's lead would reach as large as 69-54 in the final two minutes before settling for a 73-59 win.
McDermott led Creighton with 24 points, while Echenique had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Josh Jones also gave CU a lift off the bench with 14 points and four assists. Creighton shot 54.5 percent for the game (24-44) and were 8-of-20 from three-point range (40 percent).
Bradley was led by 19 points from Dyricus Simms-Edwards, with 16 of those in the first half. Taylor Brown added 16 points and a team-high seven rebounds. The Braves shot 39.0 percent for the game and outrebounded CU, 430-28.
Creighton returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts third-place Illinois State in a 7 pm game at CenturyLink Center Omaha.
NOTES: Creighton has won 20 or more games for the 13th time in the last 14 years, and 24th time in program history ...This is earliest date (Jan. 28) Creighton has ever won its 20th game, just ahead of the previous best of Feb. 4 in 2002-03 ...Creighton has won 14 straight home games vs. Bradley ...Creighton has won 10 or more MVC games in each of the last 16 games ...Creighton improved to 21-1 in its last 22 home games, with 16 double-digit victories ...This is the second time in program history Creighton has started 10-1 or better in MVC play. The 2002-03 team began 12-1 ...The win was Creighton's 10th in a row, tying it for the 10th-longest in program history ...Creighton finished 9-0 in January, its first unbeaten January since 1975 (8-0) ...Bradley is now 0-12 when its opponent has a better field goal percentage this season ...Creighton has won 25 straight game vs. Bradley when scoring 70 or more points ...Bradley is 0-12 when allowing 70 or more points this season ...Creighton wore pink uniforms and shoes as part of a Creighton vs. Cancer event ...The double-double was Gregory Echenique's third of the season, and second vs. Bradley ...Creighton has won 89 straight home games when scoring 68 points or more ...Doug McDermott now owns 518 points this season. He's the third player in MVC history with 500 or more points as both a freshman and sophomore, and the eighth CU player with two seasons of 500 or more points ...McDermott now owns 1,099 career points, 30th in CU history.
