The road struggles continued for Dana Altman and the Creighton Men’s Basketball team as they fell to Missouri State on Saturday. The loss puts them back to .500 on the season and into a tie for third place in the Missouri Valley Conference.

The Jays dug them self into a big hole in the first half. With 8:28 remaining in the first half, the deficit had already reached 14 points. A short 9-3 run helped Creighton get back within 10 points, but Missouri State responded and kept Altman’s crew at bay with an 11 point halftime lead.

After a few quick buckets to start the half, poor shooting and questionable shot selection kept the Jays from converting a field goal for a seven minute stretch. In that time span, the Bears went on a 17-0 run to build a 28 point lead, their largest of the night. A jumper by Kenny Lawson Jr., who led the team with 15 points, ended Creighton’s scoring drought, but the damage was too much.

With six Missouri State players scoring nine or more points, all a strong Jays finish could do was avoid their first 20-point loss of the season. They had one of their worst shooting performances of the season (35.8% from the field), just one game after setting a school record by shooting 66.7% against Evansville.

The Jays will look to improve on their performance tonight when they host Indiana State on Tuesday at the Qwest Center at 7 PM.