Mizzou manhandles Notre Dame in CBE Classic

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Missouri's Marcus Denmon figured he had about 30 friends and family members inside the Sprint Center on Monday night, taking advantage of the chance to see the hometown kid made good.

Denmon certainly gave them something to remember.

The senior guard poured in 26 points, Phil Pressey added 17 and the No. 21 Tigers used a big run spanning halftime to knock off Notre Dame 87-58 in the semifinals of the CBE Classic.

"I'm going to be saying this all year: He's just very talented," first-year Missouri coach Frank Haith said. "He had a nice pace, a nice rhythm to his game tonight."

That went for the rest of the Tigers, too.

Ricardo Ratliffe added 12 points and Kim English had 10 for Missouri (4-0), which shot 63.3 percent from the field while building a 52-37 lead by halftime. The Tigers scored the first six points out of the break to put away things early, punching their ticket to the championship game.

Missouri, making its fourth appearance in the tournament, will play No. 20 California tonight. The Tigers last won the event in 2001, when it was called the Guardians Classic.

"It's always fun to be able to play in front of your home fans," said Denmon, a high school star for Hogan Prep in Kansas City. "It's always fun."

Tim Abromaitis returned from a four-game suspension to score 22 points with seven rebounds for Notre Dame. Scott Martin added 12 points, the only other player in double figures, as the Fighting Irish shot just 25 percent (7 of 28) from the field in the second half.

"Flat out, men versus boys," Irish coach Mike Brey said. "They're really good. They're really mature. It was the varsity playing the JV at times."

The Irish (4-1) struggled to slow down the Tigers' four-guard offense, which pressured them mercilessly on defense and turned just about every turnover into a fast-break basket at the other end.

"We knew we were a lot smaller than them," Pressey said. "It worked to our advantage."

Denmon made everything happen, scoring on an assortment of runners, fadeaway jumpers and spot-up 3-pointers. He scored seven consecutive for the Tigers during one stretch in the first half, putting Notre Dame in an early double-digit hole.

Abromaitis' three-point play with 5 minutes, 27 seconds left in the first half got the Irish within 37-29, and his bucket a couple of minutes later cut the lead to 42-35.

That's when the Tigers went on their 16-2 run.