For the second straight game, the SIU men’s basketball team suffered a 20-point defeat.

This time it was against archrival Creighton, which won 82-60 on Saturday. The 22-point win ended the Bluejays’ seven-game losing streak at the SIU Arena.

Creighton (21-6, 11-4 Missouri Valley Conference) had five players score in double-figures, led by guard Booker Woodfox’s 15 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the field and 3-for-6 shooting from the 3-point line.

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On the other hand, the Salukis (11-15, 6-9 MVC) struggled with their shooting for the second straight game.

SIU shot 57.1 percent from the field in the second half, but it was not enough to overcome a 25.9 percent shooting performance in the first half as SIU only connected on seven of its 27 shot attempts.

Freshman guard Ryan Hare led the Salukis with 15 points and said the loss was disheartening for the team, which dropped to 11-15.

‘This is a tough loss because we really didn’t compete in the first half,’ Hare said. ‘I just want to apologize to the fans because we didn’t compete in the first half.’

Coming off an 81-55 loss to conference leading Northern Iowa, SIU appeared poised to knock off archrival Creighton in the opening moments of the game.

With a sold-out SIU Arena firmly behind the Salukis, SIU took an early 3-0 lead.

It was the only lead the team would have.

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The Bluejays rattled off 12 straight points en route to a 42-point first half. In last season’s meeting at the SIU Arena, Creighton managed to score only 44 points in a 48-44 loss.

Saturday’s win was Creighton’s first victory in Carbondale since 2001. SIU had hung seven consecutive losses on its chief Missouri Valley Conference rival prior to the 22-point drubbing.

SIU head coach Chris Lowery took the blame for the lopsided loss.

‘It’s on me,’ Lowery said. ‘I couldn’t get them ready to play two games in a row. We’ve got to get going and it’s a mental thing.’

For the second straight game, the Salukis were slow to start. They went 7-for-27 (25.9 percent) from the field in the first half and were shut out from the 3-point line as well (0-for-7).

SIU was held scoreless from beyond the arc until freshman guard Kevin Dillard connected with a three-ball from the corner. The team hit six of its eight second-half attempts from beyond the arc, but it was too little too late as Creighton answered every made basket with one of its own.

While SIU struggled to compete with the high-flying Bluejays, who have won six straight conference games and four of their last five against the Salukis dating back to 2007, Creighton used its depth to dominate the game.

‘We have an advantage playing 10 guys like we do,’ Creighton head coach Dana Altman said. ‘You hope that by playing people over a long season helps you.’

Guard Kaleb Korver came off the bench and scored 14 points, teammate P’Allen Stinnett added 13 and forwards Kenny Lawson, Jr. and Kenton Walker chipped in with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

With four games remaining in the regular season, SIU would need to run the table to avoid finishing below .500 and hope a 9-9 record in conference play is good enough to avoid playing on Thursday to open the MVC Tournament.

Lowery said the team needed to rebound quickly after a second straight rout, this time against its chief rival.

‘To experience somebody else screaming their name in our building, those young guys have to realize that’s never happened here before and they need to step their game up to finish the season.’