Creighton beats Xavier behind balanced scoring

Arthur Kamula scored 20 points, Creighton’s four other starters finished in double-figures and the Bluejays toppled No. 13 Xavier 84-67 on Saturday at Omaha, Neb., for their fourth straight Big East win.

Creighton (13-8, 7-3) steadily built a double-digit lead throughout the game and made 34 of its 60 field goal attempts (56.7%) before a sold-out crowd.

Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 17 points, Baylor Scheierman had 14, Trey Alexander finished with 13 and Ryan Nembhard added 11 for the Bluejays, who avenged a 90-87 loss at Xavier on Jan. 11.

Zach Freemantle led Xavier (17-5, 9-2) with 18 points, followed by Colby Jones and Adam Kunkel with 13.

Marquette 89, DePaul 69: At Chicago, David Joplin went 8 for 11 from 3-point range for a careerhigh 28 points, Tyler Kolek had a double-double and No. 16 Marquette rolled on the road.

Marquette has won eight of its last nine games, and moved into a tie with No. 13 Xavier atop the Big East.

Marquette (17-5, 9-2 Big East) pulled away in the second half. Oso Ighodaro’s basket started an 11-0 run and Joplin followed with three consecutive 3s to extend the lead to 50-38 with 14:30 left.

Ighodaro finished with 10 points, making all five of his shots, Olivier-Maxence Prosper scored 13 and had 8 rebounds, and Kolek had 24 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds.

Umoja Gibson scored 25 points for DePaul (9-13, 3-8) on 8-of-12 shooting.

Marquette leading scorer Kam Jones appeared to injure his right side during the game. He was checked on by a team trainer and returned, but was grimacing on the court. He played limited minutes and was held to seven points.

State

Central Connecticut State 88, St. Francis, Pa., 74:

At New Britain, Davonte Sweatman scored 20 points as the Blue Devils won the Northeast Conference game.

Sweatman also contributed five rebounds for the Blue Devils (6-17, 4-5). Nigel Scantlebury scored 17 points and added six rebounds. Kellen Amos shot 5 for 10 (3 for 6 from 3-point range) and 4 of 5 from the free throw line to also score 17 points.

The Red Flash (8-13, 5-3) were led by Josh Cohen, who posted 22 points and seven rebounds. Saint Francis also got 18 points and seven rebounds from Maxwell Land. Cam Gregory also recorded nine points.

Stonehill 82, Sacred Heat 81:

At South Easton, Mass., Isaiah Burnett and Andrew Sims both had 23 points in a Northeast Conference win over the Pioneers.

Burnett had six rebounds for the Skyhawks (10-14, 6-3). The Pioneers (11-13, 4-5) were led in scoring by Nico Galette, who finished with 18 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and two steals. His 3 at the buzzer accounted for the final score. Raheem Solomon added 18 points, seven rebounds and three steals for Sacred Heart. Joey Reilly also had 18 points.