Creighton 61, Drake 58

In hindsight, I should have made the trek to Des Moines for the Creighton-Drake game. The smart thing to do, regardless of my mother’s pleas for safety and Bill Randby’s meteorological-seal-of-approval opinion, would have been to brave the frigid cold, the blustering winds, and the first-time bad weather drivers. The reason: you always get your money’s worth when the Jays play the Bulldogs in Central Iowa.

Regardless of each team’s talent level and position in the conference race, four of the previous five meetings between these two teams in Des Moines were extremely close contests. In fact, last year and in 2002 the two teams needed more than 40 minutes of regulation to decide the outcome. Before this year’s 61-58 Creighton win, the Jays won three of their last five games in Des Moines. The only losses came in 2000 (74-70) and last year (78-73 in double overtime), and sandwiched between them were a 78-70 Jays win in 2001, a 95-91 overtime win in 2002 (which featured Terrell Taylor giving Jays fans a preview of his future heroics in the NCAA tournament), and an 88-68 drubbing during the magical 2003 season.

So, history pointed to a close game last night, and the Basketball Gods did not disappoint. Listening to T. Scott Marr and Kevin Sarver broadcast the action on Magic 590 AM, I sensed that right from the opening tip Dana Altman had his players competing with intensity. Throughout the first half, Marr and Sarver described the rough-and-tumble scrums on the hardwood for loose balls, as well as the Jays’ attempts to take charges and play physical defense. The game stayed close from wire to wire, and it came down to one minute of play that might have changed the fortunes of the 2004-05 season.

Drake Head Coach Dr. Tom Davis had the Bulldogs ready to play, and it showed early. Neither team held a lead larger than six points in the first half, and it took a lay-up by Anthony Tolliver off an offensive rebound with one second left to give the Jays a 29-27 halftime lead. Johnny Mathies started his third game in row, and led the Jays with 11 points in 11 minutes of action in the first half. Nate Funk pitched in 7 points on 3-7 shooting, while Kellen Miliner continued to struggle from the field (3 points on 1-5 shooting in the first half).

After halftime, the Jays seized control. They never trailed in the first 16 minutes of the second half, building an 11-point lead with 10 minutes to play off a Funk lay-up. It was eerily reminiscent of Creighton’s trip to Evansville: a tough game through 30 minutes, with the Jays holding a lead after completing a momentum-shifting run. But just like the game against the Purple Aces, the Jays downshifted. Drake’s Pete Eggers made a lay-up with four minutes to play giving Drake the lead, and he added one free throw to give the Bulldogs a 58-56 advantage with one minute remaining.

And then retribution set in. In the basketball world, it is understood that the only way for a shooter to break out of a slump is to keep shooting. And while this doesn’t always look good in the box score, it is truly the only way for a pure shooter to regain his or her stroke. So was the case with Miliner, a great shooter that had lost his way. After shooting 1-5 in the first half, the senior from Warner Robbins, Georgia came alive in the second frame with 11 points on 4-8 shooting. This display included the game-winning three-pointer, which put the Jays up 59-58 with 54 seconds to play. A rebound by Pierce Hibma and two subsequent free throws by the redshirt freshman increased the lead to 61-58, which proved to be the final margin.

So Creighton left Des Moines cold, shivering, and with another victory in a close game. For a team that is hard to figure out, the Jays get the job done in close games (save for the Evansville debacle). And in a Missouri Valley Conference season that proves to be anything but a cakewalk, Altman’s young team did what so many college basketball teams struggle to do – claim a difficult win on the road.

Thoughts (from the box score, not the game)...

• During the pre-game segment of the radio broadcast, Sarver pointed to a combined effort in the paint for the Bluejays. He stated that if Altman could get about 13 points and nine rebounds from any combination of his post players, the Jays would be in pretty good shape. And while the readers here know that Jeffony Tolliday is capable of those types of numbers, Jays fans had to wonder how the duo would fare against Drake big man Aliou Keita. Tolliday pitched in eight points, nine rebounds, and three blocked shots in 38 minutes of play, but the duo’s most important contribution was keeping Keita off the glass – the 6’8” center finished with just three rebounds. Anthony Tolliver was perfect from the field (4-4 for all eight of Tolliday’s points), and Jeffrey Day grabbed five defensive rebounds and stole the ball twice in 11 minutes of action.
  
• Mathies may not have scored in the second half, but it was his offensive lift in the first 20 minutes that allowed the Jays to stay in the game early. Funk finished with a game-high 16 points, but Mathies’ scoring ability attracted Drake defenders and took some of the pressure off Funk and the other perimeter Bluejays. For Creighton to succeed, Mathies needs to continue to drive the lane, shoot perimeter jumpers, and force the tempo of the game – even if it results in a few turnovers here and there.
  
• I touched on Miliner’s shooting already, but it is important to know that the games Creighton lost were the games that he was a non-factor. If we get Kellen’s 11 points per game against Wyoming and Evansville, we win those games. Without a consistent scoring threat in the paint, there needs to be more than one dependable perimeter scorer (Funk) for this team to survive MVC play.
  
• How big were the only points Hibma and freshman Dane Watts had last night? Watts struggled with foul trouble and bad positioning all night, which translated into only 12 minutes on the floor. But when needed, he hit a three-pointer that gave the Jays a 10-point lead with about eight minutes to go. And then there is Hibma, who grabbed a huge rebound at Drake’s end of the court with less than a minute left, was fouled, and hit both of his free throws to give Creighton the final margin. Both freshmen had their learning moments, but both hit big-time baskets when Creighton needed them most.