Marquette in control of Big East title race after thrilling victory on road at Creighton
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OMAHA, Neb. – Head coach Shaka Smart frequently preaches “response” to the Marquette men’s basketball team.
The Golden Eagles hit back in a big way on Tuesday night at the CHI Health Center, and the result could give MU the regular-season crown in the Big East.
In a heavyweight fight that lived up to the hype, the 10th-ranked Golden Eagles bounced back from an eight-point halftime deficit and scored a 73-71 takedown of No. 19 Creighton.
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With three games remaining in the regular season, MU (22-6, 14-3 Big East) is in the driver’s seat for the conference title. The Bluejays (18-10, 12-5) fell two games behind. Providence, which is alone in second place at 12-4, plays at Connecticut on Wednesday.
Kam Jones scored 19 points to lead MU, while Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro each added 18.
MU looked like it was on the ropes in the first half when it fell behind 32-20 after Trey Alexander and Ryan Nembhard knocked down back-to-back three-pointers.
BOX SCORE: Marquette 73, Creighton 71
After a timeout, the Golden Eagles bounced back with Stevie Mitchell, Olivier-Maxence Prosper and Ben Gold each converting layups. Gold had a chance to make it a 9-0 run, but his three-pointer rimmed out and Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman knocked down a triple on the other end.
The Bluejays kept MU at arm’s length the rest of the first half, with the Golden Eagles getting within five points twice but Creighton taking a 40-32 advantage at the break.
Scheierman had 11 points and six rebounds in the first half, shooting 2 for 7 on three-pointers.
Jones led MU in the first half with 10 points.
The Golden Eagles opened the second half on an 8-0 run to tie the game before Alexander answered with a three-pointer.
MU’s defense was much more disruptive with five steals in the first five minutes after halftime.
Mason Miller and Nembhard kept the Bluejays in the game with three-pointers. Kolek made two free throws to give the Golden Eagles a 50-49 lead.
Scheierman got the home crowd back going again by stealing a pass from Kolek and getting a fastbreak layup.
The teams jockeyed back and forth before Ighodaro dropped in a lefty hook to give MU its biggest lead to that point at 56-53.
A few possessions later, Jones knocked down a triple, then Ighodaro found Jones for a backdoor layup. When Ighodaro knocked in a layup to make it a 13-0 run and a 63-53 lead for MU, Creighton called a timeout with just under eight minutes remaining.
Ryan Kalkbrenner ended the run with a layup and then a three-pointer by Scheierman got Creighton within 63-58 with 5:01 left.
Kalkbreener hit two free throws to get Creighton within 63-60, but Ighodaro answered with two shots from the charity stripe himself.
The Bluejays finally got back to even at 67-67 on a layup by Scheierman. Then Kolek broke an almost six-minute stretch without a field goal for MU by knocking in a right-handed layup.
Nembhard tied it again with two free throws.
Kolek had the answer again with a push shot.
Creighton’s Alexander missed a good look at a three-pointer and Kam Jones sealed the win with two free throws.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Marquette in control of Big East title race after thrilling victory on road at Creighton