SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Missouri State guard Justin Fuehrmeyer had a little extra reason to value Saturday's 70-52 win over Creighton.

The Bears' only senior, Fuehrmeyer had never beaten the Bluejays. Creighton brought a string of eight straight wins into the game dating back to Fuehrmeyer's freshman season.

“It seemed like every year we had close games with them and they always came out on top,'' Fuehrmeyer said. “It feels great to get this win at home over them.''

With shots not falling, Jays struggle to gain momentum

Creighton missed 33 shots in the game, so to say one or two might have been key misfires might be pushing it. Still, Creighton coach Dana Altman knew that a basket here or there might have given his team some badly needed momentum.

“We had some shots we needed to hit tonight,'' Altman said, “but we didn't.''

Down 14-10 in the first half, Creighton missed four field-goal attempts and had four turnovers to allow Missouri State to go on an 11-1 run. At least two of the missed shots came on wide-open looks from the perimeter.

Creighton finished the game at 36.5 percent from the field, its third-worst shooting night of the season behind the 32.6 percent it shot in a win over Wichita State and the 34.0 percent it shot in a loss to Northern Iowa.

In spite of the low percentage in the latter game, Creighton was able to hang with the Panthers before dropping a 60-52 decision. When the shots didn't drop Saturday, the Bluejays appeared to let down in other aspects of the game.

“We had some very good looks in the first half that didn't go, and our guys didn't respond very well,'' Altman said.

Bits and pieces

Creighton's past three road games have not had a lead change. The Bluejays led wire-to-wire in a Jan. 27 game at Bradley and didn't lead in losses at Drake on Jan. 30 and Missouri State. ... The Bluejays fell behind 58-30 with 8:59 remaining. Prior to Saturday, Creighton's biggest deficit had been 22 points in a November loss to Xavier. ... The loss dropped Creighton into a third-place tie with Illinois State and Bradley at 7-6. Missouri State is one of three teams tied for sixth at 6-7.

— Steven Pivovar

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