OMAHA, Neb. -- No. 21 Creighton (19-3, 8-2) got 29 points from junior sensation Doug McDermott and knocked down 15 3-pointers to hold off visiting Missouri State (6-16, 4-6), 91-77, here Wednesday night in Missouri Valley Conference play.
The Bears got 21 points from Gavin Thurman to match a career high, 14 from Dorrian Williams and 10 apiece from Marcus Marshall and Christian Kirk. MSU also shot 54.7 percent from the field and committed just nine turnovers on the night.
The Bluejays scored the final five points of the first half to take a 44-32 lead into the locker room and needed less than five minutes in the second half to stretch its advantage to 17. Williams tallied five of the Bears' first seven points in the second half and finished with a team-high four 3-pointers.
Later in the half, CU used a flurry of 3's to stretch its advantage to 20, as it built a 67-47 lead at the midway point after McDermott's second trey of the second stanza. CU was in the double bonus over the final nine minuts and capitalized on its charity opportunities to stretch the lead to 24 with 7:45 to go, its largest of the night.
The young Bears kept clawing and retaliated with a series of 3-pointers of their own. MSU knocked down six treys in the final 7:27 -- including three by Williams and one apiece by Nathan Scheer, Michael Simpson and Marcus Marshall -- to make the final count respectable.
The Bears finished 29-for-53 (.547) from the field and 11-for-20 (.550) beyond the arc, their most 3-pointers of the season. MSU was an efficient 8-for-11 (.727) at the line, but was out-rebounded 34-21, giving up 11 offensive caroms and 15 second-chance points.
McDermott finished 5-of-7 from 3-point range and tallied a game-high 10 rebounds. Creighton also got 15 points from Ethan Wragge, 14 from Austin Chatman and 10 from Grant Gibbs.
Greg McDermott's club was 30-for-54 (.556) from the field, 15-for-28 (.536) from beyond the arc and 16-for-23 (.696) at the line with 10 turnovers and 24 assists.
Missouri State shot an efficient 55 percent from the field in the first half, but nine 3-pointers by Creighton made the difference. Thurman tallied 14 points in the first 20 minutes to lead all scorers.
The Bears led 2-0 and 4-2 in the early going with Thurman scoring the first basket, and Marshall knocking down a 20-footer within the first minute. After CU pushed ahead by four the MSU freshman pair teamed up for back-to-back treys for the visitors to make it a one-point game, 14-13 at the 13:20 mark.
Creighton then reeled off four treys over the span of the next four-and-a-half minutes to push ahead 28-17. Late in the half, the Bears put together a 9-5 run capped by a Thurman hook shot with just over three minutes left, but Creighton climbed ahead 45-32 at the break with a putback by McDermott and a 3-ball by southwest Missouri send-off Avery Dingman just before the buzzer.
Creighton was ranked No. 17 in this week's USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 21 in the Associated Press poll.
Missouri State returns to JQH Arena for 2:05 p.m. tipoff against Evansville (13-9, 6-4) on Hall of Fame weekend at MSU.
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