National Basketball Association
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
By SportsDirect Inc.
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 |