Creighton Men Fall At St Johns

NEW YORK, N.Y. – A seven-minute drought in the second half proved too much to overcome as No. 24 Creighton men's basketball dropped a 79-73 game to No. 9 St. John's before a capacity crowd of 19,812 fans at Madison Square Garden.

The Red Storm improved to 22-4 on the season and 13-2 in league play with the win, bolstering their lead over Creighton (18-8, 11-4 BIG EAST) to two games in the conference standings.

Steven Ashworth had 23 points and 11 assists for CU, while Jamiya Neal contributed 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Ryan Kalkbrenner missed more than five minutes in the second half due to injury before returning to finish with 12 points and nine rebounds, and Jasen Green also scored 10 points.

Zuby Ejifor had 18 points and added nine rebounds for St. John's while RJ Luis Jr. posted a double-double with 23 points and 14 rebounds. Kadary Richmond also added 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Ejifor opened the scoring with a three-pointer before Creighton answered with a 14-1 run that featured six points from Green and five points more by Kalkbrenner as the visitors raced to an early 14-4 lead. The Red Storm retook a 24-23 lead on a three-ball by Luis. The teams exchanged six leads and were tied three times in a fast-paced first half that saw St. John's take a 40-39 lead into the locker room.

Neal led CU with 12 points and six rebounds in the first half, while Ashworth added nine points and six assists.  St. John's got 10 points each from Luis and Ejifor before the break.

Creighton regained the lead early in the second half on a Jackson McAndrew three-pointer with 17:32 left. The lead grew to five (53-48) on an Ashworth three-pointer with 14:49 to go, only to have the Johnnies retake the lead with an 8-0 run that had the sellout crowd standing.  Down 56-53, the Jays got another dose of bad news when All-American center Ryan Kalkbrenner left the game due to injury with 9:45 left.

CU fell behind by as much as 58-53 before a basket by Ashworth and a run-out dunk from Neal narrowed the deficit to 58-57. The Bluejays got within two and missed an open three-ball before Aaron Scott buried a three-pointer to start another 5-0 run that gave SJU a 66-59 lead. Neal answered with a three-ball and Kalkbrenner would return with CU trailing 66-62 with 3:47 left. The Bluejays had several opportunities, but never got closer than four points in the final five minutes.

Scott converted a lay-up to put SJU up 72-64 with 1:18 left before Ashworth buried his fourth trifecta with 1:08 left to make it a five-point game. Luis made two free throws with 58.4 left before a Kalkbrenner dunk with 46.0 seconds left made it 74-69 St. John's. The Red Storm would score nine of their final 11 points at the line to salt away the win and salvage the season split vs. Creighton.

Creighton finished the game with 15 turnovers, and St. John's owned an 20-2 lead in points off turnovers.

Creighton is off until Sunday, when it hosts Georgetown at 3 p.m.