Golden Eagles storm back for crucial win
OMAHA, Neb. - The situation was dire.
Marquette was down 12 points at halftime and had lost its best player to injury. The Golden Eagles' porous defense couldn't get a stop against Creighton's high-octane offense.
Yet somehow the Golden Eagles dug deep and came through with a 90-86 victory at CenturyLink Center on Saturday night.
It was just MU's second victory in its last seven games, but the crucial road win reignited some once-dormant NCAA Tournament hopes.
Sophomore guard Sacar Anim led MU (15-11, 6-8 Big East) with a collegiate-high 26 points. Senior guard Andrew Rowsey added 21.
Khyri Thomas led Creighton (19-8, 8-6) with 26 points.
MU got the start it needed in a crucial game, making its first five shots before Rowsey missed a three-pointer at the 16:52 mark.
The Golden Eagles raced out to a 19-12 lead after Greg Elliott's putbuck with 14:22 left.
But Creighton responded with a 9-0 run that included a pair of three-point-
ers by senior forward Toby Hegner, a native of Berlin, Wis.
The Bluejays soon followed that with a 7-0 run to take a 28-22 lead that prompted MU head coach Steve Wojciechowski to call a timeout.
Jacob Epperson then hit a shot for Creighton coming out of the timeout to make it another 9-0 run.
MU scratched back to within 36-32 on a three-point play by Sacar Anim.
However, things went sideways for the Golden Eagles after that.
The worst blow came when Howard was fouled by Hegner on a drive to the basket and went down hard.
The conference's leading scorer stayed down on the court for several minutes. He was attended to by MU director of sports medicine Brandon Yoder and Wojciechowski came out to check on his star.
Howard was carried off the court and did not return with what the team called a hip injury.
The Golden Eagles seemed out of sorts without Howard.
The Bluejays ripped off another big run, scoring 10 unanswered points to take a 51-35 lead with 1:33 remaining.
The frustration for MU was evident in that run as Wojciechowski and the MU bench was called for a technical foul for arguing with the referees.
MU was able to get the deficit to 53-41 at the half.
Creighton had three players score 10 points in the first 20 minutes.
The Bluejays shot 19 of 27 (70.4%) in the first half.
Anim was crucial for the MU offense, matching his career high by scoring 15 points by halftime. He has now had three of his best scoring nights at MU in the last five games.
Howard hit both of his shots, 2 threepointers, before his exit.
Marcus Foster hit a three-pointer for Creighton to start the second half and it looked like the Bluejays were going to keep rolling.
But MU got to within 59-53 at the under-16 minute timeout, thanks to seven quick points by Rowsey.
A three-pointer by Sam Hauser got MU to within 62-61 and then the Golden Eagles took the lead on the next possession when Jamal Cain hit a three of his own, forcing Creighton coach Greg McDermott to call a timeout with 11:21 remaining.
The teams traded baskets for the rest of the game.
The offensive display ignited the home crowd, which reached a fever pitch after Creighton's Thomas leaked out on a fast break and threw down a dunk to give the Bluejays an 82-80 lead with 4:21 left.
Anim gave MU an 88-86 lead with a driving shot with 1:14 remaining.
The Golden Eagles then got a stop but turned the ball over on their next possession.
MU used its last timeout with 6.8 seconds left when Anim couldn't inbound the ball.
Anim tossed the ball down the court on his next attempt and Creighton knocked the ball out of bounds.
Hauser received the ball on the inbound pass and coolly knocked down two free throws to seal the victory.