NCAA College Basketball Box Scores

National Basketball Association

BOXSCORE | RECAP

Creighton 103, Washington St. 77

When: 8:30 PM ET, Friday, November 18, 2016
Where: UVI Sports and Fitness Center, St. Thomas
Officials: # Alvin Cox, # Matt Potter, # Duke Edsall
Attendance: N/A

By The Sports Xchange

Maurice Watson Jr. took all of four shots on Friday night and Creighton coach Greg McDermott called him the star of the game.

That's because the senior point guard is even better at passing and distributing the ball.

Watson contributed 13 assists in just 21 minutes to help ignite No. 22 Creighton to a 103-77 victory over Washington State on Friday in the opening round of the Paradise Jam at St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Senior forward Cole Huff scored 19 points and the Bluejays never trailed. Junior guard Marcus Foster added 16 points for the Bluejays (3-0), who built a 24-point halftime lead and were never threatened.

Watson set the tone with 10 first-half assists as he routinely penetrated to set up his teammates for easy baskets.

"I think he is one of the best point guards in college basketball because he doesn't have to score to control the game," McDermott said. "Anybody watching the game that understands basketball would be able to tell that this guy is the best player on the floor and sometimes he doesn't take a shot."

There were plenty of other players ready to take aim against Washington State, which offered little resistance as Creighton shot 56.3 percent from the field and was 15 of 27 from 3-point range.

Senior center Conor Clifford scored a career-best 29 points on 12-of-16 shooting from the floor for the Cougars (2-1). Senior guard Charles Callison added 11 points and senior power forward Josh Hawkinson had 10 points and eight assists.

"They were just relentless in their pursuit," Washington State coach Ernie Kent said. "They're good. That is a very good basketball team. Their ability to run, their ability to shoot, their ability of their bigs to get up and down, that's a good team."

Creighton will face North Carolina State in Sunday's semifinals. Washington State meets Montana in Saturday's consolation side of the ledger.

McDermott is hoping to ride the momentum into the game against the Wolfpack and he was particularly pleased with the performance of Huff, who made four 3-pointers and was 6 of 10 overall.

"Cole Huff is gradually getting back into shape after that offseason knee surgery," McDermott said. "It's been a process but he looked pretty good tonight."

The Bluejays made quick work of the Cougars with their strong first-half performance and never let up.

And while Creighton had trouble dealing with the 7-foot, 260-pound Clifford, its defense stymied Hawkinson, who was a nonfactor in 28 minutes of action.

Washington State trailed by 24 after Clifford's basket with 15:49 to play and Creighton rattled off the next 10 points with junior guard Tyler Clement's basket making it 80-46 with 13:34 left.

Creighton led by more than 30 most of the rest of the way. The Bluejays topped 100 on a jumper by sophomore guard Ronnie Harrell Jr. with 1:56 left.

Freshman center Justin Patton added 10 points for Creighton.

Creighton shot 63.2 percent from the field in the first half and made 10 of 15 3-point attempts while taking a 60-36 lead into the break.

Foster and Huff each scored 13 points and made three 3-pointers for the Bluejays.

Creighton used an early 7-0 run to take an eight-point lead and increased the margin to 25-11 on a 3-pointer by junior forward Toby Hegner with 13:08 left in the half.

The advantage reached 20 for the first time at 36-16 on a layup by Clement. Foster's basket made it a 24-point margin with 2:02 to play and the Bluejays again led by that margin at halftime.

Clifford scored 19 first-half points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field. The rest of the Cougars were 7 of 21.

NOTES: This was just the third meeting between the schools. Washington State defeated Creighton in the 1941 NCAA Tournament and the Bluejays won a regular-season game during the 1942-43 campaign. ... Creighton senior PG Maurice Watson Jr. had 10 or more assists on four occasions last season. ... Cougars senior PF Josh Hawkinson is 21 points shy of becoming the 35th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points. ... The Bluejays were averaging nine 3-pointers per game before topping that mark with the hot first-half shooting.

Top Game Performances

Washington St.		Creighton
Conor Clifford 29	Scoring	Cole Huff 17
Josh Hawkinson 4	Assists	Maurice Watson Jr. 13
Josh Hawkinson 8	Rebounds	Cole Huff 6
Conor Clifford 5	Free Throws Made	Cole Huff 3
Charles Callison 2	Steals	Tyler Clement 1
Josh Hawkinson 1	Blocks	Martin Krampelj 2

Team Stats Summary

Team	Points	FG%	3PM-3PA	FTM-FTA	Assists	Rebounds	Blocks	Steals	Turnovers
Washington St.	77	46.9	3-9	14-19	12	28	1	5	16
Creighton	103	57.1	15-28	8-13	25	38	2	5	17