The Creighton Bluejays got a terrific one-two-three punch from the team’s trio of seniors and handed the Missouri State Bears a 75-58 defeat in the semifinals of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Saturday afternoon in St. Louis to eliminate Missouri State from the league tourney.
    The game was played in front of an all-time MVC tourney record and Scottrade Center college basketball record crowd of 22,615. The sellout throng is also the biggest turnout ever to see a Missouri State team play a game.
    Second-seeded Creighton got 65 of its 75 points in the victory from guards Nate Funk and Nick Porter and center Anthony Tolliver in climbing to 21-10 for the season and advancing to Sunday’s championship game against top-seeded Southern Illinois. The Bears slipped to 22-10 with the loss, falling to Creighton for the third time in as many meetings this season just one day after Missouri State completed a 3-0 season sweep of Wichita State in Friday’s quarterfinal round.
    Funk hit 10-of-15 shots from the field, 3-of-6 three-point tries and all 10 of his free throws for a 33-point game that is the top scoring game against Missouri State this season. Funk added eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. Porter scored 19 points and finished his double-double with 13 rebounds while Tolliver got 13 points. Dane Watts hit two threes late in the first half and Josh Dotzler got four free throws in the second half and that was it for CU scoring.
    The Bluejays raced out to a 17-5 start the first nine minutes of the game before the Bears got started, but Missouri State came alive behind scoring from Blake Ahearn and Deven Mitchell to draw even at 26-26 with five minutes to play in the half. It was tied again at 28 before the two three-pointers from Watts shot CU into a 39-34 halftime advantage. The game stayed close early in the second half but Missouri State went nine minutes between field goals to allow the Bluejays to build a double-digit margin. The Creighton lead stayed between eight and 12 points for almost 14 minutes before the Bluejays ended the contest with a 7-0 run so the final score was their biggest lead of the night.
    After shooting .550 (11/20) the first half, the Bears got only seven of 32 shots (.219) to fall after intermission and wound up at just .346 for the game. Creighton’s three seniors combined for 19-of-35 shooting and the Bluejays enjoyed a 37-30 rebound advantage in the contest. Blake Ahearn hit all four of Missouri State’s threes in the game and finished with 20 points while Mitchell was 7-of-9 from the floor with his second straight solid game and 19 points. Mitchell added eight rebounds and Nathan Bilyeu collared seven boards.
