Hogs fall to Creighton in top-10 thriller at Maui Invitational

Creighton held off a resilient second-half effort by Arkansas, and the 10th-ranked Bluejays defeated the ninth-ranked Razorbacks 90-87 in a thrilling game Tuesday in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational. 

Arkansas (4-1) suffered its first loss of the season, while Creighton (6-0) advanced to Wednesday’s championship game. The Bluejays will play the winner of Tuesday’s late game between 14th-ranked Arizona and 17th-ranked San Diego State. 

The Razorbacks will play the loser of Tuesday’s late game in the third-place game Wednesday at 9 p.m. Central. 

Creighton led by as many as 12 points in the first half, but had to withstand waves of scoring runs by Arkansas in a second half that included 10 ties and 10 lead changes. 

Center Ryan Kalkbrenner made a contested reverse dunk with 1:12 remaining to put the Bluejays ahead for good at 83-81.  

Arkansas pulled to within one point twice in the final 19 seconds, including 88-87 when Anthony Black made a three-point shot with 2.3 seconds to play. 

Trey Alexander made two free throws to give the Bluejays a 90-87 lead and Black missed a contested half-court shot at the buzzer. 

Black, a freshman, scored 26 points for the second consecutive night to lead the Razorbacks. Ricky Council added 24 points and Trevon Brazile scored 17 before fouling out late in the game. 

Ryan Nembhard scored 25 points to lead Creighton, which had three players score at least 20 points. Kalkbrenner added 21 points and Baylor Scheierman scored 20. 

The Bluejays took advantage of Arkansas foul trouble in the second half and finished 21 of 29 at the free-throw line. Creighton also made 31 of 53 (58.5%) of its field goals, including 7 of 14 three-pointers. 

Arkansas shot 33 of 70 (47.1%) and 8 of 20 from three-point range. The Razorbacks were 13 of 17 at the free-throw line. 

Arkansas stayed close by capitalizing on 17 Creighton turnovers that led to 21 points. The Razorbacks also scored 15 second-chance points off of 10 offensive rebounds. 

Creighton never trailed in the first half and led 40-28 when Trey Alexander made a driving layup with 1:43 left in the half. 

But the Razorbacks closed the half on a 6-0 run to pull within 40-34 at halftime. All six points were at the rim — a layup by Black, a second-chance put back by Mekhel Mitchell following a missed jumper by Council, and an alley-oop pass from Black to Brazile with 13 seconds remaining. 

Arkansas scored 34 points on dunks and layups. 

Black, who made 10 of 18 field goals, finished with 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals in 38 minutes. 

CORRECTION: The time of Wednesday’s game was initially listed incorrectly.