Doug McDermott scored 36 points Saturday in Creighton's 81-79 BracketBusters victory over Long Beach State.

But it was his 11 rebounds that might have been even more important because of the impact they had on his overall game.

"I just tried to give it my all because this game meant a lot to us," McDermott said. "I knew I had to bring it tonight. My main goal was just to get some rebounds tonight and let that carry over into my offensive game.

"I wanted to crash the boards hard and let everything take care of itself after that."

No play typified McDermott's effort better than when he came flying in from the perimeter, snared Ethan Wragge's missed 3-pointer and tipped it in for the basket that cut Long Beach's lead to 76-71 with just more than 4 minutes to play.

McDermott made 14 of 20 shots from the field in his second-highest scoring total as a Bluejay. He set his career high with 44 points earlier this season against Bradley.

"His work on the backboards fueled the rest of his game," Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. "He got some offensive rebounds against one of the best rebounding teams we faced all year.

"They're long and athletic and getting rebounds above the rim. Doug went and got some offensive rebounds in the middle of all those athletes and was able to finish plays. Doug was on a mission tonight. That was obvious.

"He wanted the basketball, he made good decisions and he made some tough shots."

Coaches praise CenturyLink crowd

Long Beach State has played in some of college basketball's biggest venues since Dan Monson took over the program five years ago.

Allen Fieldhouse, Rupp Arena, the Dean Dome, the Carrier Dome. Great places to play, Monson said, but Saturday's game at the CenturyLink Center was as good as any place the 49ers have played.

"This was as good as any of them," he said. "We've played in some great environments, but none better. You can only get so loud and so obnoxious."

Greg McDermott said the announced crowd of 16,503 came ready to support their team, and they did so from the first tip until Antoine Young's shot won it.

"That was over the top tonight," McDermott said. "We were tired. We had some guys log some big minutes. Our crowd gave us the extra boost we needed in the last 3 minutes.

"The fans were up on their feet on every defensive possession. They let the referees know how they felt on a few calls, and all that is important."

Loss dims Long Beach's tourney hopes

The loss left Long Beach at 19-7, with four of the losses coming to teams ranked in the Top 25. Creighton had been ranked until a three-game losing streak dropped the Bluejays out of the ratings this week.

Monson said he's uncertain how Saturday's outcome will impact his team's chances of making the NCAA tournament.

"We've got plenty of quality losses," he said. "We've been able to show that we can play with these types of teams, but you have to win. When it's all said and done, it's who you beat.

"There's no extra points out there for being competitive. It's a pretty black-and-white sport."

The 49ers shot 58.8 percent against the Bluejays and had four players score 10 or more points, with Casper Ware leading the way with 22.

But the 49ers' inability to get greater separation when they had a seven-point lead with just under nine minutes to play ultimately proved their undoing.

"You can't let a great team like Creighton hang around," Monson said. "We had our chances. We smelled blood and we didn't do anything with it."

Bluejays cold again from 3

Creighton shot 50 percent for the game, making half its shots in each half.

But the Bluejays misfired on 18 of their 23 shots from beyond the arc, finishing at 21.7 percent from 3-point range. They were 1 of 11 in the second half on 3-point attempts.

"We didn't shoot it well from the 3-point line," said Greg McDermott, noting Creighton made just one more 3-pointer than it had in one fewer attempt in a Feb. 7 loss at Evansville. "We were 4 of 22 there and we were 5 of 23 here."

Ethan Wragge, who made 5 of 6 3-point shots in last Tuesday's win at Southern Illinois, went 2 of 9 from beyond the arc against Long Beach. Jahenns Manigat, who also was 5 of 6 against the Salukis, was 0 for 4 Saturday.

"Those nine 3s that Ethan had tonight, I'd take those every single night," McDermott said. "Those are as good a shots as we can get as an offensive basketball team. Jahenns had good looks.

"It's good to win a game when you're not shooting it as well as you're capable of shooting it. We did a lot of other things when we had to."

Bits and pieces

• Doug McDermott's 36 points were the most in a televised game in the 10-year history of BracketBusters. The 36 points also were the third-most in arena history.

• Creighton matched its win total from last season. The 23 victories are tied for fifth-most in school history.

• McDermott has scored 649 points as a sophomore, fifth-most in Missouri Valley history. It's also the sixth-highest total in school history.

• Creighton improved to 7-3 in BracketBusters games.

• Antoine Young's game-winning shot was No. 2 on ESPN's top 10 plays of the day.

• Creighton has won 38 straight regular-season home games against nonconference opponents.

• The Bluejays are now 4-1 against Long Beach, but Saturday's meeting was the first since 1973.

— Steven Pivovar

« Sports - Bluejays Today

Share