Missouri pulls away from Maryland-Eastern Shore, improves to 2-0

For more than 27 minutes, Maryland-Eastern Shore kept hanging around, and it was beginning to feel as if Missouri would never shake them Sunday during the second host-site game of the CBE Classic at Mizzou Arena.

That changed thanks in large part to freshman K.J. Walton, who started in a season-opening win against Wofford, but was pulled from the starting lineup again the Hawks in favor of sophomore Namon Wright.

Walton scored six points during a game-changing 11-0 run, which keyed the Tigers’ surge to a 73-55 victory and a 2-0 start to the season.

“K.J. was really good when he came in,” MU coach Kim Anderson said. “We were a little stagnant, passing the ball around the perimeter. He came in and just put his head down and drove. … It was the difference in the game probably at that point. Now, I don’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t have done that. We might have still won the game, but he just took off.”

Junior Wes Clark stepped into a straight-on three-pointer roughly 7 minutes into the second half, giving the Tigers some breathing room at 42-38, only to have Hawks senior Devin Martin answer with a three at the other end.

It had been that way throughout.

Missouri grabbed an early lead but never pulled ahead by more than six points until Walton helped bury Maryland-Eastern Shore for good midway through the second half.

He hit four free throws and capped the 11-0 outburst with a layup.

Walton, who finished with 11 points, going 9 of 10 from the free-throw line, and three assists, also assisted on a three-pointer by freshman Cullen VanLeer and sophomore Tramaine Isabell added a fast-break finger roll off a defensive rebound as Missouri turned a one-point game in a 53-41 runaway.

“His aggressive was really key to our success tonight, and it’s going to be really key down the road during the season,” said freshman Kevin Puryear, a Blue Springs South grad, who scored 13 with five rebounds.

The Tigers’ lead never again dipped below nine points, delighting the crowd of 5,082.

Freshman Terrence Phillips and Wright iced the game near the 4:30 mark on a five-point Missouri possession.

Phillips drilled a three-point from the left wing, one of three triples en route to 13 points, as Wright was fouled away from the ball and icily swished the ensuing free throws, bumping MU’s lead to an insurmountable 16 points.

That lead peaked at 21 on a pair of free throws by Clark, who scored a team-high 15 with three assists, with 2:20 remaining.

“We really didn’t do a great job defensively for a while,” Anderson said. “We were maybe trying to guard too close.”

At assistant coach Rob Fulford’s suggestion, the Tigers backed off in the halfcourt defense during the second half, which allowed for better help defense and took away lanes for penetration.

Missouri didn’t show a hint of the early jitters on display in an exhibition win against Missouri Western and Friday’s season-opening victory against Wofford.

The Tigers started the game 6 of 7 from the field, but only led 15-13 after Clark’s jumper at the 13:37 mark because the Hawks were crashing the offensive glass hard.

Missouri was unable extend the lead thanks to 6 of 20 shooting the rest of the half, including a reliance on three-pointers.

“We knew that we were the better team, I feel like,” Puryear said. “The first half, I wouldn’t say we weren’t playing hard, because we were. It just wasn’t really clicking. We were settling for threes and weren’t being as aggressive.”

The Tigers, who were 5 of 12 from long range against Wofford, relied more on the outside shot against the Hawks, going 4 of 13 in the first half and 8 of 19 for the game.

Maryland-Eastern Shore snagged five offensive rebounds and scored 10 second-chance points in the first half and finished with 10 offensive rebounds.

Wright matched Puryear with a team-high five boards.

This story was originally published November 15, 2015 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Missouri pulls away from Maryland-Eastern Shore, improves to 2-0."