National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Creighton 76, Drake 59
When: 8:05 PM ET, Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Where: CenturyLink Center, Omaha, Nebraska
Officials: # David Hall, # Terry Oglesby, # Rick Randall
Attendance: 15134

Doug McDermott finished with 24 points and seven rebounds as No. 24 Creighton breezed past visiting Drake 76-59 Tuesday.

Antoine Young added 18 points for the Bluejays (12-2, 2-1 Missouri Valley), who are off to their best start since 2003-04 when they opened with 12 straight wins and began 13-1.

Creighton entered as the best 3-point shooting and seventh-best field-goal percentage team in the nation and enjoyed yet another efficient performance against the Bulldogs (8-6, 1-2) as it hit 60 percent, including 5-for-11 behind the arc.

McDermott, the country’s second-leading scorer at 23.8 points, continued to fuel that with a 9-of-12 shooting effort.

It complemented the team’s recent solid play on the defensive end as Creighton held its second consecutive opponent to under 37 percent from the field.

The Bluejays’ offense wasted little time jumping all over Drake, scoring the first 11 points and establishing a 17-point lead two times in the first half en route to a 40-25 halftime advantage.

Creighton, which is also the nation's sixth-highest scoring team, gradually expanded the lead to 23 late in the second half.

Ben Simons scored 17 points and was the one bright spot for Drake, which suffered its fourth double-digit defeat on the road in as many tries this season.
Top Game Performances
 
Drake   Creighton
Ben Simons 17 Scoring Doug McDermott 24
Karl Madison 5 Assists Grant Gibbs 5
Jordan Clarke 7 Rebounds Grant Gibbs 7
Jeremy Jeffers 3 Free Throws Made Antoine Young 8
Rayvonte Rice 5 Steals Grant Gibbs 2
Rayvonte Rice 1 Blocks Gregory Echenique 4
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Drake 59 36.8 5-19 12-19 13 26 1 14 15
Creighton 76 60.0 5-11 17-22 16 30 5 5 19