Mizzou men rough up Northwestern State 84-60

It took a little while for Missouri to get cranked up after a six-day layoff that included the Thanksgiving holiday.

When sophomore guard K.J. Walton and company finally found their rhythm, visiting Northwestern (La.) State had no chance in an 84-60 loss Saturday at Mizzou Arena.

Five Tigers scored in double figures as third-year coach Kim Anderson’s squad opened a critical six-game nonconference home stand with a victory.

The Demons, 2-3, committed 18 turnovers and shot only 35.8 percent, going 24 of 67 from the field.

Mizzou, 3-2, barely won the rebounding battle, allowing 15 offensive boards, but shot 51.6 percent, going 32 of 62 overall with seven three-pointers. The Tigers also dominated points in the paint (48-32), points off turnovers (25-11) and bench points (43-8).

Walton, who scored a career-high 20 points in last Sunday’s win against Tulane, backed up his breakout performance with a game-high 19 points Saturday.

“I’m seeing the fire in his eyes and I love it, so I’m not going to mess with him at all,” MU sophomore forward Kevin Puryear said. “I hope he continues to give us a spark the way he has all season.”

Walton added four rebounds, was perfect on seven free-throw attempts and went 6 of 10 from the field in an efficient performance.

Puryear and freshmen Willie Jackson and Frankie Hughes, former high school teammates from Cleveland, each scored 11 and sophomore guard Cullen VanLeer added 10 points.

It’s the first time since a 72-67 win against South Carolina on Feb. 16 that Mizzou had five players reach the 10-point plateau.

Missouri never led by fewer than nine points in the second half and pushed the lead as high as 29 points on a monster dunk from freshman Mitchell Smith off a half-court lob from VanLeer that delighted the crowd of 4,669.

“I kind of got out in front of everybody and Cullen looked at me when he was at half-court,” Smith said. “We did it when we used to play pickup.”

VanLeer said if he tries that lengthy lob in practice and doesn’t connect, he’s getting yelled at, but felt confident enough to pick out Smith in a lopsided game.

“I saw him get about two steps ahead, so I threw it up to the rim and he went and got it,” VanLeer said. “ … That’s the first lob I think I’ve ever thrown here that connected, but it was a pretty good pass, really good catch and finish, and it was a good play for us.”

Jackson finished with a team-high seven rebounds, while Puryear added six boards and both VanLeer and senior Russell Woods pulled down five rebounds.

Sophomore point guard Terrence Phillips dished out a career-high eight assists.

Northwestern State never led by more than five, but the Demons controlled the game’s first 10 minutes.

Sophomore forward Ishmael Lane’s finish through contact with 11:26 remaining had Northwestern State coach Mike McConathy’s squad in front 16-11.

Missouri got an earful during a TV timeout before Lane missed his free throw.

“He wasn’t happy with our effort and, at that point, that’s when we kind of buckled down and played more aggressive on the ball,” Puryear said. “They kicked out butt on the offensive boards, but we were able to get some key defensive rebounds and push it in transition for some easy points that way.”

Walton ignited a 10-2 run with a putback.

After Phillips tied the game with a three-pointer from the left corner and Hughes shot the Tigers into the lead with a three from the opposite corner on the next possession, Anderson’s squad never trailed again.

The Tigers steamrolled to halftime on a 15-4 run, which put the game out of reach and was punctuated by freshman forward Reed Nikko’s monstrous two-handed slam.

According to Anderson, Nikko suffered a high right ankle sprain early in the second half. He’s unlikely to play Monday against North Carolina Central, but it’s unsure how long he’ll be out.

MISSOURI 84

NORTHWESTERN STATE 60

TableStyle: SP-bkwideplayersCCI Template: SP-bkwideplayers

Percentages: FG .358, FT .500. Three-Point Goals: 5-25, .200 (Thompson 3-8, Woodley 2-7, Bell 0-1, Joseph 0-1, Sweeney 0-1, Walker 0-1, Hall 0-2, Boyd 0-4). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 4 (Sweeney 2, Metoyer, Thompson). Turnovers: 18 (Lane 5, Metoyer 3, Joseph 2, Sweeney 2, Boyd, Hall, Hamilton, Thompson, Walker, Woodley). Steals: 5 (Joseph 2, Hall, Walker, Woodley). Technical Fouls: None. Fouled Out: None.

TableStyle: SP-bkwideplayersCCI Template: SP-bkwideplayers

Percentages: FG .516, FT .765. Three-Point Goals: 7-20, .350 (VanLeer 2-6, Hughes 2-8, Phillips 1-1, Puryear 1-1, Geist 1-2, Glassman 0-1, Wolf 0-1). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 2 (Smith, VanLeer). Turnovers: 13 (Hughes 2, Jackson 2, Phillips 2, Smith 2, Glassman, Nikko, VanLeer, Walton, Woods). Steals: 10 (Walton 4, Geist 2, Phillips, Puryear, VanLeer, team). Technical Fouls: None. Fouled Out: None.

Half: Missouri 39-27. Att: 4,669.

AP-WF-11-26-16 2259GMT

This story was originally published November 26, 2016 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Mizzou men rough up Northwestern State 84-60."