Creighton University
6-1
Middle Tennessee
3-3
Men's Basketball Tops Middle Tennessee To End Florida Trip
11/29/2014 6:02:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NICEVILLE, Fla. -- No. 23 Creighton Men's Basketball built a 36-15 halftime lead and held on for a 57-47 win over Middle Tennessee on Saturday to close out play in the Emerald Coast Classic.
Creighton (6-1) scored on the first possession of the second half to go ahead 38-15, then went more than 16 minutes before its next field goal. Isaiah Zierden snapped the drought with a rare four-point play with 3:43 to go, giving CU a 50-37 lead, and CU held on down the stretch.
Creighton trailed just once all night, at 4-3, before Toby Hegner sparked a 7-0 run with two baskets and an assist. The Jays never looked back.
A 9-1 run started by Avery Dingman's first three-pointer of the year gave CU a 24-10 lead, and the Bluejays would follow a short time later with a 12-2 spurt to close the first half ahead 36-15 behind 60.9 percent shooting in the first half.
Will Artino drained a lay-up 15 seconds into the second half for CU's largest lead at 38-15 before suffering for one of its longest droughts in recent history. The Bluejays would score just eight free throws in their next 21 possessions, missing nine shots and adding nine turnovers to the mix.
Slowly but surely, Middle Tennessee (3-3) rallied. The Blue Raiders drew within single-digits with 5:45 left when Jacquez Rozier's lay-up trimmed the Bluejay lead to 43-35. It would be as close as MTSU would get, as Creighton sank 5-of-5 free throws in the final five minutes to ride out the double-digit win.
Zierden scored 10 points to lead CU and was named to the Emerald Classic All-Tournament Team. Creighton shot 45.9 percent for the game, including 5-of-15 three-pointers, and also drilled 18-of-21 foul shots.
Middle Tennessee was paced by nine points off the bench by Jaqawn Raymond. The Blue Raiders shot 39.1 percent from the field and outrebounded the Jays, 29-24.
Creighton returns to action next week with a pair of road games against NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago. The week starts with a Wednesday night road contest at Tulsa.
NOTES: Isaiah Zierden's four-point play was his second of his career, joining one he had last season vs. Arizona State. He's the only player in the five year tenure of Greg McDermott with multiple four-point plays in that time ... Creighton snapped a seven-game losing streak in the state of Florida with its first win in the Sunshine State since 1999 ... Greg McDermott is now 6-0 all-time against the teams currently in Conference USA ... The crowd of 1,215 in Florida was the smallest to see a Bluejay win since Dec. 23, 2008 (1,200 vs. DePaul in Las Vegas) ... Middle Tennessee has not beaten a ranked opponent since 1989, when it topped No.16 Florida State.
