Indians suffer Top 25 loss

OMAHA, Neb. -- For more than 10 minutes Sunday afternoon, Southeast Missouri State University hung right with the nation's 18th-ranked college basketball team.

But then Creighton's vaunted pressure defense took over. And the Bluejays quickly turned out the lights on the Indians' hopes for a monumental upset.

Creighton forced five turnovers during a momentum changing 12-0 run that fueled the undefeated Bluejays' 93-70 victory in front of a nearly sold out Omaha Civic Auditorium.

A crowd of 9,189 -- the arena seats 9,377 -- made plenty of noise all game long as the Bluejays, who are ranked nationally for the first time since 1975, improved to 10-0. The Indians fell to 5-6.

"I thought they were definitely as good as I thought they'd be," Southeast forward Tim Scheer said. "They're really a good team, with a lot of good players and a lot of depth."

Southeast coach Gary Garner wasn't about to argue that point.

"I'm really impressed with Creighton's team. I don't know that they even get the credit they deserve. They're definitely a top 20 team," Garner said.

The Indians held several leads early in the first half, the biggest being three points. And they trailed just 26-24 after Demetrius King's layup with 9:32 remaining in the period.

That's when Creighton's relentless defense -- the deep Bluejays apply pressure all over the court virtually the entire game, which has been one of the keys to their success -- took over.

In a span of a little more than three minutes, the Indians had five of their 12 first-half turnovers. The ensuing 12-point burst opened up a 38-24 Creighton lead and Southeast never got closer than 10 points again, including not closer than 14 points in the second half.

"Our press created a lot of opportunities for us," Creighton coach Dana Altman said. "We played a good team. SEMO is hard nosed and well coached. Their offense gave us a lot of problems. We couldn't stop them in the halfcourt and they outrebounded us (34 to 32), but the press helped us turn the game around and I think we just wore them down. Our depth was probably the biggest factor."

Said Scheer, "Against a team like Creighton, you can't have any kind of a lapse and we had one for about three minutes which really hurt us."

The Indians trailed 51-35 at halftime despite shooting 60.9 percent from the field (14 of 23). The glaring statistic was turnovers as Creighton had just three, which helped the Bluejays attempt 11 more shots than Southeast. Creighton was also hot from the floor, hitting 58.8 percent (20 of 34).

"They've got a good ballclub and they put pressure on you," Southeast guard Derek Winans said. "As you can see, in the first 12 minutes, we executed our offense and got good shots. We hung right in there."

Kyle Korver, Creighton's 6-foot-7 forward who is the reigning Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year and an All-American candidate, led the way with 22 points. Korver, who is shooting better than 50 percent from 3-point range on the season, made three of five from long distance and seven of nine field-goal attempts overall.

Mike Grimes scored a career-high 17 points off the bench for Creighton. He hit seven of eight shots. Larry House added 13 points.

Southeast was led by Scheer with 20 points. He was 8-for-12 from the field. Also scoring in double figures for the Indians were Winans with 13 points, forward Damarcus Hence with 12 and guard Brett Hale with 12.

Indians' center Brandon Griffin scored nine points and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds to go along with nine assists. Guard Kevin Roberts added six assists.

"I didn't think we played that poorly. Creighton is just better than us," Garner said. "They have great depth. They really wore us down. And that little stretch in the first half, however long it was, was definitely the biggest part of the game. They really hurt us with their press. It was the turning point."

Southeast wound up with 17 turnovers compared to only eight for Creighton. The Indians cooled off in the second half and shot 49.2 percent for the game (30 of 61) while the Bluejays shot 56.1 percent (37 of 66). Now the Indians will prepare for their Ohio Valley Conference opener as Eastern Illinois visits the Show Me Center Saturday night.

"I think this game will help us, not hurt us," Winans said. "If anything, it shows we can play with a team like Creighton when we run our offense and take care of the ball."