Game-Ending Run Pushes Creighton Men's Basketball Past #11 Marquette, 77-67

OMAHA, Neb. -- Jamiya Neal had 10 points in a game-ending 22-11 run to help the Creighton men's basketball team to a 77-67 win over No. 11 Marquette on Saturday afternoon. The win, Creighton's ninth in a row, kept the Bluejays one game behind St. John's in the BIG EAST standings.

Steven Ashworth had 22 points and Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 19 to lead the Bluejays (18-6, 11-2 BIG EAST), with Neal scoring 14 points despite battling foul trouble for the game's final 22 minutes. Creighton shot 52.9 percent for the game and had just eight turnovers against MU's pressure defense.

Kam Jones contributed 27 points and David Joplin added 22 for the Golden Eagles (18-6, 9-4 BIG EAST). MU shot 36.1 percent for the contest and launched 36 of its 72 field goal attempts from three-point range. MU won the rebound battle 37-34, including 18 offensive boards, and outscored CU 11-6 in second chance points and 17-6 off turnovers.

Kalkbrenner dominated the game early on, making his first five field goal attempts as CU built a 20-17 lead. Back-to-back hoops by Jasen Green pushed the margin to 24-17, and the Jays took a 43-36 lead into intermission after a three-pointer at the horn by Jones cut into CU's double-digit lead.

Creighton built a lead as large as 11 twice in the first three minutes after halftime, but Marquette would answer. Jones had seven points in a 12-0 run as Marquette reclaimed a 56-55 advantage. Neal, who had checked out after picking up his third foul with CU up 51-40 with 16:11 left, checked back in and quickly went to work.  He made a three-pointer 12 seconds after returning, then buried a step back jumper a minute later before accruing his fourth personal foul with 8:34 left.

Neal would check out, and Joplin scored the next five points for a 61-60 MU lead with 6:34 left before Fedor Zugic scored CU's next four points to give CU a lead it would hold the rest of the way. Neal returned to the floor with 4:38 left and CU leading by one, after which point the Jays closed the game on a 13-4 run. The surge began with a three-pointer by Kalkbrenner before another triple from Neal that caused the sellout crowd of 18,185 to erupt. A Neal lay-up in traffic put CU up five, and Ashworth delivered the dagger with a three-pointer with 45 seconds left that put CU up eight.

Ashworth made 7-of-11 shots, including 6-of-9 three-pointers, and also had seven assists. Kalkbrenner made 8-of-9 shots from the floor and blocked four shots, and Green had a strong all-around performance with eight points, seven rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.

Creighton returns to the court on Tuesday at 8 p.m. when it hosts two-time defending national champion Connecticut.

NOTES: Creighton has won a program-record nine straight BIG EAST games, as well as a program-record 10 straight BIG EAST home games ... Creighton has won 10 consecutive games on FOX ... Creighton's 11-2 start in league play matches its best since joining the BIG EAST in 2013-14 ... Creighton's 78 BIG EAST wins since 2019-20 lead the league, 11 more than Marquette ... Steven Ashworth has made a three-pointer in 42 consecutive games ... Ashworth surpassed 150 three-pointers and 300 assists in a Creighton uniform during the game ... Ryan Kalkbrenner moved past Myles Powell for 10th in BIG EAST history in career points in league play. Kalkbrenner also moved past Patrick Ewing for seventh in rebounds in BIG EAST play ... Kalkbrenner moved from 43rd to 38th in NCAA history with 370 career blocked shots ... Creighton is now 41-56 under Greg McDermott against top 25 teams, compared to a 20-117 mark before his arrival.