Welcome to St. Louis, Doug.

Junior forward Doug McDermott scored a game-high 23 points to become Creighton’s all-time scoring leader on Friday afternoon in a 65-53 victory over the Drake University Bulldogs at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo.  Playing in front of a large Creighton crowd, the Bluejays advanced to the semifinals to be held on Saturday afternoon. The first semifinal on Saturday is between top-seeded Creighton (25-7) and fifth-seeded Indiana State University (18-13) at 1:30 p.m., immediately followed by the second semifinal between second-seeded Wichita State University (25-7) and sixth-seeded Illinois State University (18-14.) The game between the Shockers and the Redbirds is a rematch of last year’s semifinal game in which Illinois State won.

The game between the Jays and the Bulldogs was the first of four games played on Friday at the Scottrade Center. Early in the contest between Drake and Creighton, it was a high-scoring battle as the teams exchanged layups and 3-point baskets. In the middle of the first half, redshirt sophomore Will Artino came off the bench and sparked a 7-0 run to give Creighton a 19-12 lead. Artino would finish with a career-high 14 points to go with his six rebounds for the game. At halftime, the Jays led 33-26.

In the second half, the teams continued to battle. After Creighton gained a 45-35 advantage with 13:41 remaining in the game, the Bulldogs went on a 9-2 run to cut the lead to 47-44 with 10:03 remaining. However the Bluejays backcourt of Echenique, McDermott and Artino, who scored 48 of the team’s 65 points, led Creighton on a 18-9 run to close the game. The Bluejays’ largest lead of the game was 16 points at the 5:18 mark. It was an impressive defensive effort in the final 10 minutes as the Bluejays wore down the Bulldogs.

McDermott, who now has 2,117 career points heading into Saturday’s game against the Sycamores, is very thankful to become the Bluejay’s all-time leader in points scored.

“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to my teammates and coaches, because I wouldn’t ever be in this position without them. I can’t dwell on it too much, because we’ve got a big game tomorrow and a big rest of the season. It’s really cool, though, and a great honor.”

Other scores from Friday’s quarterfinal games:

(5)Indiana State University 51 (4)University of Evansville 50

(2)Wichita State University 69 (7)Missouri State University 59

(6)Illinois State University 73 (3)University of Northern Iowa 65