Shereef Mitchell
Photo by: Lachlan Lawson Photography
Men's Basketball Opens Exhibition Tour of Australia With 79-66 Defeat
8/5/2019 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jays fall despite 24 points from Mitch Ballock
SYDNEY, Australia - The Creighton men's basketball team suffered a 79-66 setback on Monday against Australia B'Ball Centre of Excellence in the opening contest in its three-game exhibition tour of Australia.
The Bluejays led 37-35 at half and were ahead 50-43 with four minutes remaining in the third quarter before the Centre of Excellence squad went on a 12-2 run to take the lead for good.
Australia led 59-54 after three quarters and 67-57 with 7:41 to play. The Bluejays closed to within 71-66 with 3:19 left on a lay-up by Damien Jefferson before surrendering a game-ending 8-0 run.
Creighton's best stretch of the game came to start the second quarter during a 13-3 flurry that saw CU take its biggest lead of the night at 31-24. The stretch included a hoop by Damien Jefferson, an athletic tip-in of his own miss by Shereef Mitchell, a three-ball by Davion Mintz, a Mitch Ballock lay-up in transition, Ballock feeding Christian Bishop for an alley-oop before Bishop returned the favor with a backdoor pass to open Ballock for another lay-in.
Ballock led the Bluejays with 20 points, including 4-of-10 three-pointers, and was joined in double-figures by Jefferson (12) and Mintz (11). The Bluejays played without the services of Ty-Shon Alexander (Pan American Games), as well as Jacob Epperson (injured), Kelvin Jones (injured) and Marcus Zegarowski (injured). In addition, Christian Bishop left the game in the third quarter with cramping and did not return.
Half of CU's 10-man active line-up has never appeared in a regular-season game for the Bluejays. True freshman Mitchell started and had five points, four assists, three steals and two rebounds while battling foul trouble. Memphis transfer Antwann Jones added four points, six rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals. Nic Zeil had two points, three rebounds and a block, and Jalen Windham contributed four points, two rebounds and a steal. Redshirt freshman Jett Canfield played five minutes, as well.
Creighton shot just 36.8 percent for the game, including 21.4 percent on 28 three-point attempts. The Bluejays were also a sub-optimal 36.4 percent from the charity stripe, including 2-for-9 marksmanship after the intermission.
Joshua Bannan led the Australian team with 13 points and seven rebounds. He was one of four hosts in double-figures, as Centre of Excellence picked up their second Division I win in three days. The Australian club shot 45.5 percent from the floor and 13-of-15 at the foul line while owning a 47-40 rebounding edge. The Aussies also owned a 43-10 edge in bench points.
Creighton returns to the court on Thursday, August 8, with a match-up in Cairns against the Cairns Taipans. The game is scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m. AEST, which translates to 5:30 a.m. CST.
Highlight Shot Sheet
1st quarter
2nd quarter
8:32 - Mitchell shot and tip-in
8:07 - Mintz 3fg
6:45 - Ballock to Bishop dunk
6:02 - Bishop to Ballock lay-up
2:53 - Mitchell layup
1:59 - A. Jones layup
3rd quarter
8:40 - Mitchell steal
5:47 - A. Jones layup
5:15 - Zeil layup
4:13 - Ballock 3fg
1:09 - Mintz layup
4th quarter
6:25 - Jefferson tip dunk
3:23 - A. Jones blocked shot
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