McDermott Leads No. 15 Creighton In 73-59 Win Over Bradley

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Doug McDermott scored 24 points and No. 15 Creighton turned back two Bradley comeback attempts in the second half for a 73-59 victory Saturday night.

A school-record crowd of 18,436 watched as the Bluejays (20-2, 9-1 Missouri Valley Conference) won their 10th straight. Bradley (6-17, 1-10) has lost 13 of 14.

Josh Jones and Gregory Echenique each had 14 points for the Bluejays, who have won 14 straight against Bradley in Omaha since 1998. Echenique also had 10 rebounds.

Dyricus Simms-Edwards scored 19 points and Taylor Brown 16 points to lead the Braves.

Bradley twice cut Creighton's lead to three points in the second half.

After Brown's layup made it 35-32, Jones made back-to-back 3s to finish a 9-0 run.

After Walt Lemon Jr.'s layup made it 48-45, Avery Dingman and Ethan Wragge hit consecutive 3s to end an 8-0 burst that put the Bluejays up 56-45.

McDermott, who scored a career-high 44 points in a Jan. 7 win at Bradley, scored Creighton's first seven points and finished 10 of 14 from the floor.

Bradley, last in the Missouri Valley, went back and forth with the Bluejays the first 10 minutes. Creighton looked as if it might break open the game after that.

Echenique dunked, and Jones turned Austin Chatman's pass from the baseline into a 3-pointer and then flashed a big smile to his bench as he shook his hands up and down as if he was playing the drums.

McDermott converted a three-point play and Grant Gibbs hit a 3 from the corner for the Bluejays' first double-digit lead.

But the Bluejays were sloppy at times in the first half, committing 12 of their 19 turnovers. The Braves scored the last five points of the half to get within 33-28, with Simms-Edwards swiping the ball from Chatman near midcourt and racing in for a dunk just ahead of the buzzer.

The Bluejays wore pink-trimmed warm-up tops and uniforms as part of a local Creighton vs. Cancer effort that coincided with the nationwide Coaches vs. Cancer day.

Bradley wore pink warm-up tops and shoelaces. Creighton encouraged all fans to wear pink, and 12,000 pink shirts were handed out at the door.

Bradley president Joanne Glasser and Theresa McDermott, wife of Creighton coach Greg McDermott and mother of Doug, are breast cancer survivors.

Creighton secured a 20-win season for the 13th time in 14 years. No prior Bluejays team had ever reached 20 wins before February.

The Bluejays have won at least 10 Valley games for a record 16th straight season.

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