Ragland, Wichita State coast past No. 17 Creighton
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
02/11/2012 - Omaha, NE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Ragland had 24 points and six assists, as Wichita State downed No. 17 Creighton, 89-68, on Saturday.
Ben Smith added 22 points while Toure' Murry and Demetric Williams had 11 apiece for the Shockers (22-4, 13-2 MVC), who have won four straight and 12 of their last 13.
The Bluejays (21-5, 11-4) could have tied Wichita State atop the MVC standings with a win, but instead lost their third straight game. They were paced by Gregory Echenique's 16 points. Leading scorer Doug McDermott had 13 on 5-of-14 shooting while Antoine Young and Ethan Wragge scored 11 apiece.
The Shockers took control of the game late in the first half, using an 8-0 run to grab a 33-23 advantage. Murry had four points during the surge before Creighton responded with five straight to make it 33-28. But Wichita State continued to pull away.
A Smith three-point play stretched the lead back to 10, 42-32, with two minutes left in the half and it was 49-36 at the break courtesy of Smith's trey seconds before the buzzer.
Despite the sizeable margin, recent history cautioned that the Bluejays were capable of making it a game.
Since 2003, Creighton has overcome a double-digit deficit to down Wichita State six times, including an 11-point comeback win on New Year's Eve of this season.
But the Shockers didn't falter. They dominated the second half, stretching the lead to 19, 70-51, on another bucket from Smith. The Bluejays answered with a McDermott layup and two free throws from Echenique but Wichita State had it back to 19 minutes later and the margin reached 20 on a pair of Williams' foul shots with 4:10 to play.
Game Notes
The Shockers shot 58.2 percent from the field and hit 8-of-16 three- pointers...Wichita State improved to 8-1 on the road this season...Creighton leads the all-time series, 53-44...McDermott entered Saturday ranked first in the MVC and third in the nation in scoring at 23.3 points per game.
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Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).
Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.
A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.
Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.
"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.
De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.
The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.
The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.
De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.
Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.
But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.