Will Creekmore finished with a career-high 26 points and had 11 rebounds as Missouri State defeated Southern Illinois 76-58 Wednesday night to keep pace with Wichita State atop the Missouri Valley standings.
Nafis Ricks added 12 points and Adam Leonard scored 11 for the Bears (22-7, 14-3), who set a school record for conference wins and conference road wins (seven) in a season.
Mamadou Seck led the Salukis (12-17, 5-12) with 17 points and 13 rebounds, and Justin Bocot had 13 points.
After Kyle Weems hit a 3-pointer to give Missouri State an early 3-2 lead, the Bears never trailed again. They took a 35-28 advantage into halftime and pushed their lead to 23, 65-42, with a 9-0 run late in the second half.
Missouri State will host Wichita State, which beat Creighton on Wednesday, in the regular season finale for both on Saturday.
