OMAHA, Neb. — Sophomore star Doug McDermott scored 25 points and went over 1,000 for his career, and No. 23 Creighton defeated Southern Illinois 90-71 on Sunday night.
The Bluejays (16-2, 6-1) have won six straight since they opened Missouri Valley Conference play with a home loss to Missouri State. The Salukis (6-12, 3-4) lost to Creighton for the eighth straight time.
Antoine Young added 14 points and six assists and Gregory Echenique had 11 rebounds to go with his nine points.
McDermott also had 11 rebounds and recorded his sixth double-double of the season.
T.J. Lindsay had 13 points, Jeff Early 11 and Mamadou Seck 10 for the Salukis.
The Bluejays shot 55 percent from the field and made 28 of 34 free throws.
The Salukis, down 15 late in the first half, got to 57-53 on Early’s 3-pointer with 14:10 left. The Bluejays scored eight of the next 10 points, with Echenique converting Young’s lob into his second dunk of the game for a 65-55 lead.
The Bluejays led by 20 points in the last two minutes.
McDermott had 14 points and the Bluejays were 20 of 22 on free throws the first half. McDermott scored his 1,000th career point on a one-handed bank-in. He joined Bob Portman, Paul Silas, Rod Mason and Rodney Buford as the only Creighton players to reach the milestone in their first two seasons.
McDermott showed he could pass a little, too, delivering a backdoor pass that Grant Gibbs converted into his first dunk of the season.
Ethan Wragge hit two 3-pointers and Avery Dingman one during an early 11-3 run, and the Bluejays made seven free throws in a 12-2 spurt that gave them a 31-18 cushion.
The Bluejays are 9-0 in Sunday night games at CenturyLink Center since 2003, and they’ve won 66 straight home games against teams with .500 records or worse since 2002.
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