Creighton Men win at UCONN

December 21st, 2020 | Beth Rogers

STORRS, Conn. — Damien Jeffersons jumper with 0.2 seconds left forced overtime and No. 9 Creighton scored nine of the first 11 points in the extra session to pick up a 76-74 road win at Connecticut on Sunday afternoon. The game featured 15 lead changes and eight ties, spoiling the return of UConn to the BIG EAST Conference after seven years as a member of the American Athletic Conference.

After falling behind 8-3 in the first three minutes the Bluejays used a 9-0 run that included three-pointers from Jefferson and Mitch Ballock to move ahead.  The margin stretched into double-figures on a Denzel Mahoney triple with 7:59 left in the first half that made it 25-15 and reached as large as 12 at 29-17 before UConn closed to within a pair following a 12-2 run of its own. Two free throws by Antwann Jones with 0.4 seconds left in the first half provided a 33-29 lead for the Bluejays at the intermission.

Mahoney led CU with seven points and seven rebounds in the first half, while Bouknight owned 10 of his 16 points during the final five minutes of the frame.

Bouknight continued his hot hand early in the second half, hitting a three-pointer as UConn went ahead 36-35 for its first lead since 8-6 in the opening minutes. The teams would alternate the lead seven times in the first six minutes of the second half, with Bouknight scoring on four different occasions to give UConn a one-point advantage.

UConn led 53-51 at the 8-minute media timeout before three straight hoops from Christian Bishop gave CU a 57-53 advantage as Dan Hurley called a timeout. The Huskies reclaimed the lead with back-to-back scores from Bouknight to move ahead 58-57 with 5:05 remaining. That was part of a 10-2 spurt that put the Huskies in the lead 63-59 at the final media timeout.

Creighton crept back with free throws by Bishop and Kalkbrenner and trailed 63-61 with two minutes left. Isaiah Whaley made 1-of-2 foul shots after a steal with 1:01 left. Creighton missed a three-pointer but got the offensive rebound and Bishop made a foul shot with 34.0 left to get CU within two. The Jays would foul Jalen Gaffney with 21.3 left and he swished both free throws to return the lead to four. Zegarowski then sped upcourt for an uncontested layup with 13.6 left. R.J. Cole missed two free throws with 11.2 left and Jeffersons pull-up jumper with 0.2 left after an inbounds play tied it at 66 and forced overtime.

Creighton fell behind on the first possession of overtime as Jalen Gaffney got a friendly roll on the rim as the shot clock expired before CU answered with three in a row from Mahoney. The Bluejays grew the lead to three on a lob to Bishop with 50 seconds left to make it 71-68. Ballock made a pair of foul shots with 30.9 left to stretch the lead to 73-68. Zegarowski added two more with 22.6 ticks left. Bouknight scored a deep three-pointer with 11.7 left to slice the Bluejay margin to 75-71. Ballock was fouled with 10.2 left and split two free throws before Bouknight threw in a mostly meaningless three-pointer at the final horn.

Bishop led four Bluejays in double-figures with 19 points and Mahoney had his first double-double as a Bluejay with 10 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Also in double-figures were Ballock (13), Zegarowski (11) and Jefferson (10). The Bluejays won the rebound battle 48-41.

UConn was paced by 40 points from Bouknight, the second-most ever for a debut in a BIG EAST game. Cole added a dozen but shot just 2-of-13 from the floor. UConn shot 7-for-30 from three-point range.

Creighton returns to the court on Wednesday at 2 p.m. when it hosts Xavier on FS1.

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