Bluejays hand Musketeers their 1st defeat of season
OMAHA, Neb. — Antwann Jones and Denzel Mahoney scored 13 points each to lead No. 13 Creighton to a 66-61 win over 22nd-ranked Xavier on Wednesday, handing the Musketeers their first loss of the season.
The Bluejays used an 8-0 run to start the second half to open up a 44-34 lead before the Musketeers (8-1, 1-1 Big East) cut it to 64-61 with 10 seconds left on Paul Scruggs’ 3-pointer. Creighton inbounded the ball to Jones, but the sophomore transfer from Memphis made an ill-advised decision to throw the basketball away after getting trapped along the baseline.
Adam Kunkel ran it down for Xavier, but his 3-pointer from the left wing was long off the back of the rim and bounced around a crowd of players before landing in Jones’ hands for Creighton. He stepped to the free throw line and made both shots to atone for his mental error on the previous play and the Bluejays (7-2, 3-1) prevailed.
Neither team shot extremely well in the second half as Xavier was 2-for-16 from behind the arc and Creighton 3-for-13 in the final 20 minutes. The difference was at the free throw line where the Bluejays made 11 of 14 down the stretch after struggling in closes losses to Kansas and Marquette. Xavier only got to the line four times in the second half.
For the second game in a row Creighton struggled from the 3-point line. They went 7-of-27 on Sunday afternoon against Connecticut and 8-of-28 against the Musketeers. Yet still they found a way to win both games late.
“It’s two games in a row — last game Marcus (Zegarowski) and Denzel struggled to shoot the ball, and today Marcus and Mitch (Ballock) struggled to shoot the ball, and in the past we haven’t been able to figure out ways to win when that happened,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said.
“That bench is coming and the depth is being developed. To run off three (wins) in a row after the tough loss to Marquette is a real credit to our guys.”
Xavier opened the game with 22-9 run after knocking down 9 of their first 13 shots. The Musketeers eventually cooled off and the second unit gave the Bluejays enough of a spark to pull ahead 36-34 at halftime.