Creighton University
Evansville
Men's Basketball Holds Off Ryan Express, Tops UE 93-92
2/21/2012 11:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball
OMAHA, Neb. -- The Creighton men's basketball treated its home fans to a second thrilling finish in the last four days, capping a second half rally from 14 points down to claim a 93-92 overtime win over Evansville on Tuesday night.
Creighton (24-5, 13-4 MVC) needed a tip-in by Gregory Echenique just before the regulation horn expired to force overtime, then held on as Evansville (14-14, 8-9 MVC) superstar Colt Ryan missed a three-pointer in the waning seconds of the extra session. It was a rare miss for the junior guard, who set a CenturyLink Center Omaha record with 43 points on 17-of-24 shooting.
Creighton, which rallied from nine down to beat Long Beach State in the final second on Saturday, has now won consecutive games despite leading a grand total of 0.3 in the second half of those games.
The Bluejays played from behind most of the first half, not taking control until a 13-2 run gave them a 39-33 lead with 1:23 to go in the period. Avery Dingman had six of his career-high 14 points in that flurry. But just as quickly as CU earned that lead, the Purple Aces answered with the next seven points to claim a 40-39 halftime lead on Ryan's three-pointer at the halftime buzzer.
Ryan had 16 points and Denver Holmes 15 for UE in the first half, while CU featured a balanced attack that included points from eight men. Dingman led CU with nine points at the break in nine minutes off the bench.
The start of the second half continued UE's run. The visiting Purple Aces opened with a 10-2 flurry to move up 50-41 at the 17:48 mark and force Bluejay head coach Greg McDermott into an early timeout.
Creighton fell behind by 14 points at 60-40 with 14:08 left, and were still down 14 (71-57) with eight minutes to play. The Jays cut into that deficit with a tip-in by Doug McDermott and two foul shots by Jahenns Manigat. After a Ryan jumper quieted the crowd, Josh Jones answered with a three-pointer and Antoine Young four straight points to get CU within 73-68 and 4:55 to go.
UE pushed the lead back up to 83-76 with less than two minutes left before a McDermott three-pointer made it a four-point game. The Jays then forced a shot clock violation and cut the margin in half on an Echenique tip with 52 seconds left. UE's decision to milk most of the shot clock on the next trip down backfired, as the team incurred another shot clock violation, giving CU the ball with 17.6 seconds left.
Creighton called timeout and had Young try to replicate his heroics from Saturday, when his fallaway jumper with 0.3 seconds left beat Long Beach State. This time the senior would miss. Ethan Wragge's tip was short, but Echenique was there for a one-handed tip-in off the glass just as time expired. A review of the replay monitor confirmed the shot was good, the first time all half CU was even with the Aces.
The overtime wasn't too shabby either, featuring three ties and five lead changes. Creighton fell behind 90-87 on Troy Taylor's three-point play with 2:04 left, but Jones answered with a three-point play and 1:44 to go. CU took a 91-90 lead with 1:10 left when McDermott the second of two foul shots, only to have Ryan score on a jumper with 44 seconds left as the Aces reclaimed the lead.
The Jays then worked the ball around and Jones hit a high-arching elbow jumper to go ahead 93-92 with 22.6 left. UE brought the ball upcourt and held it for a final shot, where Ryan's contested three-pointer for the win hit the left side of the iron and bounced away. Doug McDermott grabbed his seventh and final rebound of the night and the Jays dribbled out the clock to hang on for the win.
Doug McDermott and Young led Creighton with 21 points each. McDermott tied Echenique for the team-lead with seven rebounds, while Young dished seven assists in his final home game. Dingman tied his career-high with 14 points while Manigat (12) and Jones (11) also scored in double-figures. The nation's top-shooting team statistically, Creighton shot 56.9 percent from the floor and made 10-of-17 (58.8 percent) from three-point range. CU also made 25-of-36 free throws on the night and outscored UE's bench, 27-11.
Ryan led UE with a CenturyLink Center Omaha record and career-high 43 points, making 17-of-24 shots from the floor. He made 4-of-8 three-pointers and 5-of-8 foul shots and also had six rebounds, four assists and tied a career-high with five steals. Holmes was 8-of-9 from the floor and scored 25 points and added seven assists. The rest of the UE team combined for just 24 points on 8-of-23 shooting. As a group, UE shot 58.9 percent (33-56) and drained 8-of-14 three-pointers (57.1 percent) and 18-of-25 (72 percent) at the line. The Aces dished 25 assists and had nine steals while forcing CU into 16 turnovers.
Creighton will close the regular-season on Saturday at 3 pm Central with a game at Indiana State. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN2.
NOTES: Colt Ryan's previous high was 39 points, and his 43 were one more than the previous building record of 42 by Creighton's Cavel Witter on March 1, 2008 vs. Bradley in a double-overtime game ...Creighton is now 1-0 in overtime this year, while UE is 2-3 in overtime ...Creighton is now 5-2 all-time in overtime at CenturyLink Center Omaha and improved to 30-9 in games decided by five points or less at the venue ...Creighton's 24 wins are tied for fourth-most in program history for a single-season ...Creighton finishes 14-2 at home this year and averaged a Valley-record 16,664 fans per home game ...Creighton has won 89 straight games when scoring 70 points or more at home, and 53 straight wins when scoring 90 points or more at all venues ...Evansville hasn't won in Omaha since 1999 and were seeking its first sweep of the Jays since 1994-95 ...Antoine Young, Ross Ferrarini, Matthew Dorwart and Derek Sebastian were honored post-game as part of Senior Day festivities. Ferrarini is a junior on the roster but will graduate in May and not be back ...Creighton hasn't lost a Senior Day when it's had a senior on the roster since 1995 ...Doug McDermott scored 20 or more points for the 20th time this season, finishing with 21 ...Doug McDermott's 670 points rank sixth-most in CU single-season history among all players, and are fourth-most in MVC history among sophomores behind Oscar Robertson, Larry Bird and Mitchell Anderson ...Doug McDermott's 262 field goals this year lead the nation and are third-most in CU history for a single-season ...Creighton improved to 6-4 when trailing at half this year and have now overcome double-digit deficits to win four games this year (@SDSU, @WSU, UNI, UE) ...Creighton improved to 15-0 all-time when Jahenns Manigat has three or more assists and is 10-0 this year when he scores in double-figures.
Above: Gregory Echenique's tip-in that sent the game to overtime. Photo by Adam Streur.
AAbove: Creighton seniors Antoine Young, Matthew Dorwart, Ross Ferrarini, Derek Sebastian. Photo by Mike Spomer.
