The crowd at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis painted a telling picture of Saturday’s action of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament at the end of Creighton’s 99-71 route the University of Evansville.
Half of the Scottrade Center was filled with a sea of blue, chanting “C-U” as Creighton earned a spot in the 2012 MVC title game against Illinois State University. A small group of Evansville purple stayed to watch what might be the Purple Ace’s last minutes of the season. A few splotches of Shocker yellow remained following No. 1 seed Wichita State’s 65-64 upset loss to Illinois State. The Illinois State faithful stuck around to take a glance at the team they would face in tomorrow’s MVC championship game. And what the Redbird’s fans saw was a Bluejays team that was clicking at the right time of the season.
The story of the game was junior center Gregory Echenique. Echenique dominated the paint and put up 20 points and pulled down nine rebounds. The only setback the 6-foot 9-inch center faced all game was a technical foul issued against him for hanging on the rim following a two-handed dunk.
The Bluejays also found their groove from beyond the arc that had been missing for the past several games. A 3-pointer by sophomore guard Jahenns Manigat in the opening minute of the game set the pace early. Creighton finished the game shooting 12-23 from 3-point range.
Creighton’s defense also guarded Evansville senior guard Colt Ryan well; limiting him to 13 points. Ryan dropped 43 points against Creighton in the Bluejay’s 93-92 senior night victory over Evansville on Feb. 21. Overall, Evansville shot 43 percent from the field, a 16 percent drop in field goal percentage from Evansville’s lights-out shooting performance Feb. 21.
Other top performers for Creighton included MVC Player of the Year Doug McDermott. The sophomore forward finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Senior guard Antoine Young scored 13 points, junior guard Josh Jones shot 4-5 from beyond the arc for 12 points, and freshman center Will Artino added 10 points from the bench.
With the victory, Creighton won its sixth straight game and moved to 27-5 on the season.
The Bluejays are seeking their 11th MVC title in team history. The MVC championship game against Illinois State will tip-off at 1:05 p.m. The game will be broadcast on CBS.