Paulding finds range, leads MU to victory

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Rickey Paulding's free-throw woes cost Missouri earlier this week in an overtime loss to Texas. There were no misfires this time.

Paulding had 19 points and cleared up his problems at the line in a 72-51 victory over Nebraska on Saturday. He was 6-for-12 with five misses in the final four minutes of regulation and overtime against Texas on Tuesday, and 6-for-6 against Nebraska.

"I just figured it was one of those things," said Paulding, a 75-percent free throw shooter. "I wanted to concentrate, and the crowd was behind me."

Missouri (8-7, 3-2 Big 12) defeated Nebraska in football and basketball in the same season for the first time since 1978. Football was responsible for almost all of that drought before the Tigers ended a 24-game losing streak last fall with a 41-24 victory over the Huskers.

"Mizzou is on the move," center Arthur Johnson said with a laugh.

The Tigers were ice-cold at the start of the game, missing 14 of their first 17 shots and trailing by as many as 10 points before taking a 1-point lead at the half. They outscored Nebraska 29-7 in the final 9:33, after the Huskers had taken their only lead of the second half.

"I've never seen nothing like that happen before," guard Charles Richardson said. "We just lost control of the game.

"Like Coach said, we were acting like we were dead out there."

Freshman Thomas Gardner added 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting to match his season high for Missouri, which avoided falling below .500 at this juncture of the season for the first time since 1978-79. The blowout came after consecutive overtime games, a victory at Oklahoma and a loss to Texas.

Defense, a trouble area all season, was the difference. Missouri forced nine turnovers in the second half and 16 overall.

"It really has a positive effect on your confidence and your psyche," coach Quin Snyder said. "The basket gets a little bigger and the game gets a little easier when you're able to get some buckets off your defense. That's good to see."

Gardner played 21 minutes at the expense of starting point guard Randy Pulley, who played only two minutes and had no points. Pulley had his left wrist wrapped on the bench.

"He's a little banged-up," Snyder said. "We're just trying to find the right combinations of guys and I think we had that a large part of the game."

Paulding had seven points and Jimmy McKinney five in a 17-0 run that put the game away, giving Missouri a 60-44 lead with 5:19 to play. The run came after Nebraska (11-5, 1-4) had taken its first lead of the second half on a 3-pointer by Brian Conklin with 9:33 left.

Nebraska didn't get another basket for eight minutes, by which time the run had grown to 27-2 and the score was 72-48. This from a team coming off a 29-point victory over Baylor and a two-point loss at Texas.

"We broke down and they did just what they wanted," Conklin said. "When you go on the road there's going to be times when there are runs and you've just got to weather them and move on, and we didn't do a good job of that."

Johnson added 10 points for Missouri, which has won six in a row over Nebraska and nine of the last 10.

Nate Johnson had 11 points for Nebraska, which has lost four of five and is 1-4 on the road. Andrew Drevo, who averages 11 points, was held to seven.

"We just lost our composure," Richardson said. "It wasn't the fact that their defense was better, we just didn't compete."

Gardner hit a 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds to go in the half to give Missouri a 30-29 lead, rescuing a spotty, sloppy opening. The Tigers hit only three of their first 17 shots and trailed 18-8 with 7:47 left after a 13-1 Nebraska run.