National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Missouri 81, Texas 67
When: 10:00 PM ET, Friday, March 9, 2012
Where: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
Officials: # Mike Eades, # John Higgins, # Doug Sirmons
Attendance: 18972

Missouri 81, Texas 67: Phil Pressey scored a career-high 23 points and the No. 5 Tigers cruised past the Longhorns in the Big 12 tournament semifinals.

Kim English also scored 23 points for Missouri (29-4), which will face No. 11 Baylor in Saturday's final in a rematch of the 2009 championship game.

The Bears upset top-seeded Kansas in the earlier semifinal, costing the Tigers a chance to face their bitter rivals one final time before departing for the SEC next season.

Texas (20-13) is still on the bubble for the NCAA tournament and will have to wait for Selection Sunday to hear if it will make a 14th consecutive appearance.

The Tigers jumped out to a quick double-digit lead and were ahead 39-32 at halftime.

Texas guard J’Covan Brown scored on a layup with 16:25 left in the second half to cut the lead to 45-41, but he crashed underneath the basket and appeared to hurt his neck. Brown lay on the floor for a few minutes before being helped off the court in obvious pain. He came back a couple minutes later, but by that time Missouri was back up 52-41.

Later, Pressey’s fifth 3-pointer of the night made it 67-53 with less than nine minutes to go.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Missouri leading scorer Marcus Denmon had only two points and was 0 for 10 from the field. … Brown, the Big 12’s leading scorer, had a team-high 21 points for the Longhorns. … English left momentarily in the second half with a quadriceps injury but returned a few minutes later.
Top Game Performances
 
Texas   Missouri
J'Covan Brown 21 Scoring Kim English 23
Myck Kabongo 5 Assists Phil Pressey 4
Jaylen Bond 8 Rebounds Ricardo Ratliffe 14
J'Covan Brown 3 Free Throws Made Ricardo Ratliffe 4
Sheldon McClellan 2 Steals Marcus Denmon 3
Jaylen Bond 3 Blocks Ricardo Ratliffe 3
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Texas 67 42.2 5-13 8-14 10 37 3 4 12
Missouri 81 52.6 10-22 11-15 15 27 3 7 8