Southern Illinois University
24-6, 16-2MVC
Creighton
29-4, 15-3MVC
Salukis Defeated In Missouri Valley Championship
03/10/2003 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
March 10, 2003
By R.B. FALLSTROM
AP Sports Writer
ST. LOUIS - After surviving a pair of close games, Creighton won the Missouri Valley Conference tournament with ease.
The Bluejays got 20 points from Larry House and took advantage of horrendous first-half shooting by top-seeded Southern Illinois to romp in the championship game with an 80-56 victory on Monday night.
The 19th-ranked Bluejays (29-4) were the second seed in the tournament after losing 70-62 March 1 at Southern Illinois (24-6), the regular-season champion the last two years. Creighton struggled in its first two tournament games, a pair of one-point victories over Indiana State and Wichita State, but put it all together to win the tournament championship for the fourth time in five seasons.
"We didn't play well the first two games, and we wanted to make a statement," forward Michael Lindeman said. "We knew we could play better."
Meanwhile, it all fell apart for Southern Illinois. The Salukis missed 17 of their first 18 shots, hitting just 15.6 percent in the first half and fell behind by 26 points. Creighton had leads of 10-0, 22-4 and 42-14 in the half and was ahead by as many as 33 points at 57-24 in the second half.
"I used every emotion I had," Southern Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "I laughed at them, I yelled at them at times. No matter what I tried, nothing worked."
Despite the lopsided finale, both teams likely are headed to the NCAA tournament. Creighton gets the conference's automatic bid for its fifth straight trip, and Southern Illinois was ranked 37th in the RPI.
"It's out of our hands now," Southern Illinois forward Jermaine Dearman said. "The only sure way to get in was to win this tournament and we didn't do that. There's nothing we can do now."
The Salukis scored fewer than 20 points in the first half for only the second time all season. The other time was also at the Savvis Center, when they had 13 at halftime of a 70-61 loss to Saint Louis on Dec. 28. Their worst loss previously was by 13 points at Charlotte on Dec. 18.
Kent Williams, who leads Southern Illinois with 15-point average, was 1-for-7 in the half and finished with 13 points on 3-for-11 shooting. Dearman, who had 43 points in the first two tournament games, had only four at the half and finished 5-for-13 with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Darren Brooks was 6-for-7 in the second half and had 15 points, but missed all four shots in the first half.
Creighton didn't need a big game from Kyle Korver, the conference player of the year and tournament MVP each of the last two years. Korver was content to distribute the ball in the first half with four points on 1-for-3 shooting. He finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and two steals.
"We are not a one-man team," Korver said. "Look at what I did in the first half. The big guys really stepped up for us in this game."
Creighton also beat Southern Illinois in the tournament final last season, 84-76.
Bruce Weber:
"(Creighton) was fantastic. They played with so much energy, a lot like they did last year in the second half of the tournament championship game. Korver only had four points in the first half, but it was all the other guys."
"Hopefully, this one game won't change the minds of the (Selection) committee. If we get in the tournament, as I believe we should and will, then now it's a fresh start again. Now we have to talk about doing some damage and making a good showing in the tournament."
"I believe we should be in the NCAA Tournament. The players get to go home and have spring break, and hopefully get their legs back and their minds back. We'll come back and practice on Friday and get ready for the tournament."
"The last 12 games I told them every game is the biggest game of the year, and we have to keep winning. So maybe we used up all of our energy to get here."
"Think about it. The other night, if a shot goes down, Creighton's not even in this game. Every game is different. That's the fun of college basketball."
"We had great teams at Purdue that were top 20 teams, and we got beat worse than this, so sometimes it happens like that. We've got to think we're in, and we have to get ready to play in the tournament."
"It hurts, I know it hurts with our guys, but it could be healed very quickly when we see our name flash up there Sunday."
"I thought some of the looks early weren't bad, but once we didn't make the early looks, each guy started trying to do it on their own. They started dribbling, taking bad shots, forcing things, and then we didn't get back on defense. It snowballed, and we just couldn't stop it. As a coach, you're trying everything you can, but nothing seemed to work tonight."
Kent Williams:
"When we got down, we started rushing things and tried to get back in it too fast. Obviously, we were cold in the first half and they were hot. We gave them too many easy buckets. When you give a team easy buckets, it gets them going and gives them confidence."
"They were the better team tonight. I'm sure they were disappointed with their showing at our place a week ago when that was for the championship, and I'm sure they had revenge on their mind."
Jermaine Dearman:
"We won the conference, and they won the tournament. They played great today and we tip our hat to them."
"We have to rely on our record and what we've done at the end of the season. Hopefully, that's enough to get us in. There's nothing we can do about it now except wait."
