The Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. - Creighton found strength in numbers Sunday as it wore down Southeast Missouri State in a 93-70 victory that kept the 18th-ranked Bluejays unbeaten.

At 10-0, the Bluejays have the best record in Division I this season and the program's best start in 60 years.

Kyle Korver had 22 points, but the key to the win was Creighton's 42-4 advantage in bench scoring and 30-4 margin in points off turnovers.

"Our press started to bother them," Creighton coach Dana Altman said. "We just had more players. Once our press wore them down and they started to make mistakes, that's what turned the game around. We got some easy ones out of our press."

The Bluejays are off to their best start since the 1942-43 squad opened with a school-record 16-0 mark. It's the fifth time in the 85-year history of the program that the Bluejays have opened a season with 10 straight wins.

"We have a lot of areas we can improve," Altman said. "I'm anxious to see how they'll accept criticism because we're not rebounding well enough at times or being physical enough. But they've done a lot of good things."

Indians coach Gary Garner said Creighton is one of the best-kept secrets in college basketball this year.

"Sometimes the really outstanding mid-major teams like Creighton don't get the credit they deserve," Garner said. "They have great depth, and that was a big part of today's game."

Creighton simply outmanned Southeast Missouri with its 10-man rotation. The Indians brought just two players off the bench.

"There aren't a lot of people we play that play 11 or 12 guys," Altman said. "The way we play and our style, we bank on that a little bit. There are going to be some teams that will be prepared for that. But we count on our opponents wearing out just a little bit."

Forward Mike Grimes, one of the Creighton reserves, was 7-of-8 from the field and had a career-high 17 points.

"I always get on Mike about playing soft down in the post," guard Larry House said. "Mike played big today. He made some good moves. Mike went to the hole aggressively. He told me before the game he was going to try to dunk everything. He didn't, but he tried."

Tim Scheer led the Indians (5-6) with 20 points, while Derek Winans had 13 and Brett Hale 12.

Southeast Missouri made nine of its first 13 shots in playing the Bluejays virtually evenly through the first 10 minutes.

Creighton forced three straight turnovers and went on a 12-0 run that widened the lead to 38-24 with 6:44 left in the first half. Grimes scored five points and Korver hit one of his three 3-pointers during the spurt.

"The first 12 minutes of the game, we hung in there and we executed our offense and we were getting really good shots," Scheer said. "We stayed in the ballgame pretty much the first half."

Damarcus Hence ended Creighton's run with an inside basket, but the Bluejays outscored the Indians 21-8 over a seven-minute stretch to lead 62-39.

The Indians finished with 17 turnovers. The Bluejays committed just eight.

"They were definitely as good as I thought they would be," Winans said. "You've got to give them a lot of credit. They're going to have a lot of success this year."

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE (5-6)-Scheer 8-12 2-3 20, Hence 5-12 2-2 12, Griffin 4-7 1-3 9, Hale 5-11 0-0 12, Winans 6-12 0-0 13, King 2-6 0-0 4, Roberts 0-0 0-1 0, Crader 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 30-61 5-9 70.

CREIGHTON (10-0)-Lindeman 2-3 0-0 4, Korver 7-9 5-6 22, Deren 3-7 0-1 6, House 6-8 1-1 13, McKinney 3-4 0-0 6, Sims 1-4 0-0 2, Bowden 2-7 1-1 5, Funk 3-6 1-2 8, Miliner 2-4 2-2 8, Dabbert 1-6 0-0 2, Bresnahan 0-0 0-0 0, Grimes 7-8 3-7 17, Finklea 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 37-66 13-20 93.

Halftime-Creighton 51-35. 3-Point goals-SE Missouri 5-12 (Hale 2-3, Scheer 2-4, Winans 1-4, King 0-1), Creighton 6-18 (Korver 3-5, Miliner 2-4, Funk 1-4, McKinney 0-1, Sims 0-1, Dabbert 0-1, Bowden 0-2). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-SE Missouri 34 (Griffin 13), Creighton 32 (Korver 6). Assists-SE Missouri 22 (Griffin 9), Creighton 21 (Funk 5). Total fouls-SE Missouri 17, Creighton 15. Technicals-Scheer, SE Missouri bench. A-9,189.

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