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COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - Jabari Brown scored 15 points while Jordan Clarkson and Earnest Ross both added 12 to help No. 24 Missouri defeat Western Michigan 66-60 on Sunday.
Missouri (10-0) looked rusty at times after an eight-day break for final exams and clung to a 47-45 lead with 10:46 remaining. Tony Criswell's jumper two minutes later capped a 9-0 run as the Tigers pulled away.
Missouri stretched its NCAA-best homecourt winning streak to 25 games and has won 80 straight games against nonconference opponents at Mizzou Arena dating to the 2005-06 opener.
St. Louis native David Brown led Western Michigan (5-4) with 18 points and Shayne Whittington added 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Missouri scored 80 points against West Virginia and then-No. 18 UCLA in its previous two games, but struggled to maintain that momentum into Sunday.
The Tigers made 50 percent of their shots (23 of 46), but only scored two points during a seven-minute stretch in the first half before Clarkson hit one of two free throws with 3:47 before the break.
Missouri also committed nine turnovers and yielded five offensive rebounds in the first half to Western Michigan, which trailed 31-22 after 20 minutes despite shooting 9 of 34.
The Tigers' defense, though, continued its strong start to the season. The team has yet to allow an opponent to shoot better than 44.3 percent from the field this season, and only Hawaii has topped 71 points.
Western Michigan only shot 2 of 16 from 3-point range in the first half after scoring just 35 points in a loss at Northwestern on Dec. 7. The Broncos finished at 30 percent (21 of 70) overall.
The Broncos started the second half on an 11-4 run to pull within 35-33, but couldn't quite catch Missouri.
Missouri now waits another six days to play its next game, the annual Braggin' Rights game in St. Louis against Illinois.
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