Saturday, January 27
Omaha, Neb.
7:00 PM
Creighton University
17-5, 7-3BE
85
vs
77
Georgetown
13-8, 3-7BE
1
2
F
Georgetown
33
44
77
Creighton
46
39
85
Creighton hosted its ninth-largest home crowd in history on Saturday night (18,518).
Photo by: A.J. Olnes
Foster and Thomas Combine for 50 Points As Men’s Basketball Edges Georgetown, 85-77
1/27/2018 10:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Creighton wins Eighth Annual Pink Out Game in front of 18,518 fans
OMAHA, Neb. --- In front of the ninth-largest home crowd in school history, 18,518, the duo of Marcus Foster and Khyri Thomas led the Creighton men's basketball team to a thrilling 85-77 win over Georgetown on Saturday, Jan. 27 in the eighth annual Creighton vs. Cancer Pink Out game.
Foster and Thomas dropped a combined 50 points to push the Bluejays to 17-5 on the season, while moving to 7-3 in BIG EAST action and sweeping the Hoyas in the regular-season for the first time since joining the BIG EAST. Georgetown, meanwhile, fell to 13-8 overall and 3-7 in conference play.
Both teams came out the gates on fire from the field, as Georgetown hit 67 percent of their shots (6-of-9) while Creighton connected on 75 percent of their chances (9-of-12). The result left Creighton up 20-15.
The Hoyas surged ahead thanks to an 11-0 burst, sparked by Jahvon Blair's trio of three-pointers to give Georgetown a 28-23 lead with 8:30 left before halftime.
Trailing 33-30 with 3:55 left in the opening half, Creighton changed the narrative for the frame with a 16-0 run. Foster guided Creighton's charge with three treys to end the half, including one to beat the buzzer and send the Bluejays into halftime up 46-33.
Foster and Thomas combined to equal the Hoyas with 33 points, shooting 12-16 from the floor collectively. The Hoyas started out shooting 6-7 from behind the arc, before going cold as they went 1-7 from three to finish the half, as well as hitting only one of their final nine shots before the break. The Bluejays forced 11 takeaways in the first half, only turning the ball over five times themselves.
After a slow start by both teams in the second half, Creighton found some momentum from a moment of magic from Ronnie Harrell Jr. Harrell forced drew his defender off balance twice before finishing at the rim. He went on to complete the three-point play to put Creighton up 54-41 (13:37). A Mitch Ballock trey on the next possession (13:13) forced a timeout from Georgetown head coach Patrick Ewing with the Jays up 57-41 (13:13).
The Hoyas slowly crawled back into the game over the next 10 minutes, to pull within one point at 68-67 (4:25) and again at 71-70 (3:23).
Refusing to allow Georgetown to blemish the Bluejays perfect home record, Thomas stepped forward at both ends for his squad. It began with a traditional three-point play on the offensive end for the Omaha native, then he stamped his calling card of defense on the contest with a stop on Georgetown's Marcus Derrickson and a critical rebound.
Creighton's defense made the difference in the final stretch, as a Harrell steal and a Davion Mintz jumper with 1:23 would all but seal the deal, extending the Bluejays lead to 76-70. Clutch free-throw shooting from Foster and Mintz helped the Jays see out the game 85-77 and the Jays improved to 13-0 on their home court this season.
Foster finished the night with a game-high 28 points and six rebounds, while Thomas contributed with 22 points of his own. Toby Hegner added 16 points, the sixth time in the last seven games he's scored in double-figures.
Blair put up a team-high 21 points for the Hoyas, while Derrickson scored 17 in a losing effort. Jessie Govan was limited to seven points and four rebounds on 2-of-8 shooting.
Creighton will be back in action on Thursday, February 1 when they head to Philadelphia to take on top-ranked Villanova. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30. The game can be heard on KOZN (1620 AM) and will be televised on FS1.
NOTES: Freshman Jacob Epperson made his first appearance as a Bluejay at the 13:39 minute mark, and put his mark on the game less than a minute later with a dunk and his first two points of his collegiate career. He finished the game with two points, two rebounds and an assist in nine minutes ... Creighton raised $28,796 in its Pink Out jersey and shooting shirt auction, bringing its seven-year total raised to $186,360.68 ... Creighton has won 34 straight games when shooting 50 percent or better from the field ... Creighton improved to 6-2 in Pink Out home games ... Creighton tied the all-time series with Georgetown, 6-6, with tonight's win ... Creighton surpassed 200,000 home fans for the 13th straight season, and has now hosted 214,766 fans this season ... Marcus Foster was honored prior to the game for scoring his 1,000th point as a Bluejay in CU's most recent home game on Jan. 17 vs. Seton Hall ... Marcus Foster now owns 1,076 points at Creighton, passing Reggie Morris (1982-86) for 33rd in program history ... With 22 points on Saturday, Khyri Thomas is now tied with Fritz Pointer (1963-66) for 44th in CU history with 965 points ... Marcus Foster had his fifth game this season with five three-pointers.
Foster and Thomas dropped a combined 50 points to push the Bluejays to 17-5 on the season, while moving to 7-3 in BIG EAST action and sweeping the Hoyas in the regular-season for the first time since joining the BIG EAST. Georgetown, meanwhile, fell to 13-8 overall and 3-7 in conference play.
Both teams came out the gates on fire from the field, as Georgetown hit 67 percent of their shots (6-of-9) while Creighton connected on 75 percent of their chances (9-of-12). The result left Creighton up 20-15.
The Hoyas surged ahead thanks to an 11-0 burst, sparked by Jahvon Blair's trio of three-pointers to give Georgetown a 28-23 lead with 8:30 left before halftime.
Trailing 33-30 with 3:55 left in the opening half, Creighton changed the narrative for the frame with a 16-0 run. Foster guided Creighton's charge with three treys to end the half, including one to beat the buzzer and send the Bluejays into halftime up 46-33.
Foster and Thomas combined to equal the Hoyas with 33 points, shooting 12-16 from the floor collectively. The Hoyas started out shooting 6-7 from behind the arc, before going cold as they went 1-7 from three to finish the half, as well as hitting only one of their final nine shots before the break. The Bluejays forced 11 takeaways in the first half, only turning the ball over five times themselves.
After a slow start by both teams in the second half, Creighton found some momentum from a moment of magic from Ronnie Harrell Jr. Harrell forced drew his defender off balance twice before finishing at the rim. He went on to complete the three-point play to put Creighton up 54-41 (13:37). A Mitch Ballock trey on the next possession (13:13) forced a timeout from Georgetown head coach Patrick Ewing with the Jays up 57-41 (13:13).
The Hoyas slowly crawled back into the game over the next 10 minutes, to pull within one point at 68-67 (4:25) and again at 71-70 (3:23).
Refusing to allow Georgetown to blemish the Bluejays perfect home record, Thomas stepped forward at both ends for his squad. It began with a traditional three-point play on the offensive end for the Omaha native, then he stamped his calling card of defense on the contest with a stop on Georgetown's Marcus Derrickson and a critical rebound.
Creighton's defense made the difference in the final stretch, as a Harrell steal and a Davion Mintz jumper with 1:23 would all but seal the deal, extending the Bluejays lead to 76-70. Clutch free-throw shooting from Foster and Mintz helped the Jays see out the game 85-77 and the Jays improved to 13-0 on their home court this season.
Foster finished the night with a game-high 28 points and six rebounds, while Thomas contributed with 22 points of his own. Toby Hegner added 16 points, the sixth time in the last seven games he's scored in double-figures.
Blair put up a team-high 21 points for the Hoyas, while Derrickson scored 17 in a losing effort. Jessie Govan was limited to seven points and four rebounds on 2-of-8 shooting.
Creighton will be back in action on Thursday, February 1 when they head to Philadelphia to take on top-ranked Villanova. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30. The game can be heard on KOZN (1620 AM) and will be televised on FS1.
NOTES: Freshman Jacob Epperson made his first appearance as a Bluejay at the 13:39 minute mark, and put his mark on the game less than a minute later with a dunk and his first two points of his collegiate career. He finished the game with two points, two rebounds and an assist in nine minutes ... Creighton raised $28,796 in its Pink Out jersey and shooting shirt auction, bringing its seven-year total raised to $186,360.68 ... Creighton has won 34 straight games when shooting 50 percent or better from the field ... Creighton improved to 6-2 in Pink Out home games ... Creighton tied the all-time series with Georgetown, 6-6, with tonight's win ... Creighton surpassed 200,000 home fans for the 13th straight season, and has now hosted 214,766 fans this season ... Marcus Foster was honored prior to the game for scoring his 1,000th point as a Bluejay in CU's most recent home game on Jan. 17 vs. Seton Hall ... Marcus Foster now owns 1,076 points at Creighton, passing Reggie Morris (1982-86) for 33rd in program history ... With 22 points on Saturday, Khyri Thomas is now tied with Fritz Pointer (1963-66) for 44th in CU history with 965 points ... Marcus Foster had his fifth game this season with five three-pointers.
Team Stats
GU
CU
FG%
.455
.529
3FG%
.423
.400
FT%
.941
.808
RB
32
24
TO
17
11
STL
4
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
28
FGM
9
3FGM
5
FTM
5
Pts
22
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
9
Pts
16
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
3
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
C
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
G/F
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
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