National Basketball Association
Creighton 86, Mississippi 77
When: 8:30 PM ET, Monday, November 21, 2016
Where: UVI Sports and Fitness Center, St. Thomas
Officials:
# Jerry Heater, # Joe Lindsay, # Matt Potter
Attendance:
2699
By The Sports Xchange
Patiently chipping away at Mississippi's lead in the second half before pulling away in the final five minutes Monday night, Creighton passed its first test as the nation's 12th-ranked college basketball team.
The Bluejays broke away from a tie by outscoring Ole Miss 12-3 to earn an 86-77 victory in the championship game of the Paradise Jam tournament in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
A stronger showing on the defensive end in the final 20 minutes allowed Creighton to bounce back from an 11-point, first-half deficit and improve to 5-0 less than 12 hours after moving up 10 places in the latest Associated Press ratings.
Bluejays coach Greg McDermott told CBS Sports Network after the game, "We defended. They only had 31 points the second half, and we rebounded better in the second half. We stuck together."
The Bluejays also shot better in the second half, making 17 of their 25 field-goal attempts (68 percent), including a 9-of-15 performance from 3-point range.
Kansas State transfer Marcus Foster led four Creighton players in double figures with 25 points. The 6-foot-3 junior from Wichita Falls, Texas, also had a team-high six rebounds.
Khyri Thomas added 16 points for Creighton, while Toby Hegner and Justin Patton finished with 12 and 11, respectively.
Deandre Burnett and Rasheed Brooks scored 22 points apiece to pace the Rebels.
Foster, who was named the tournament MVP, said Jays players and coaches had to straighten a few things out at halftime. Once the fixes were made, things gradually got better.
"I think there was just a lot of pointing fingers," Foster said. "This team is very tight. We just have to stick together when we face adversity."
It was Thomas who led the Creighton charge in the final five minutes. The sophomore from Omaha, Neb., scored eight of his 16 points in the final 3:41.
The biggest was a 3-pointer that upped Creighton's lead back to six points at 82-76 with 1:55 to play. A layup by senior guard Maurice Watson with 59 seconds remaining put Creighton ahead 84-76.
Ole Miss (4-1) jumped to a quick 5-0 lead before Watson made a jumper in the lane to start a 7-0 Bluejays run.
The Rebels turned the game into a half-court affair, allowing them to neutralize Creighton's desire to play at a faster pace. Ole Miss regrouped, went up 28-20 and eventually built that lead to 41-30 over the next six minutes with the deliberate, half-court tempo.
Burnett led the charge by scoring 11 of the Rebels' 13 points in that stretch with everything from a tip-in to a 3-pointer. Ole Miss was up 44-33 with 2:27 to go before halftime when Creighton went on a 7-2 run to get within 46-40 at intermission.
"You can't run if you don't get a rebound," McDermott said. "They're so physical on the glass. At halftime, they'd missed 19 shots and offensive rebounded 12 of them. We can't play with any pace if that happens."
NOTES: Creighton F Cole Huff and Ole Miss G Deandre Burnett made the all-tournament team along with North Carolina State G Dennis Smith Jr., Washington State F Josh Hawkinson and Loyola (Chicago) G Aundre Jackson. ... The only other time Creighton and Mississippi played was in an early-season tournament. Ole Miss defeated the Bluejays 75-68 on Nov. 14, 2014, in the Emerald Coast Classic in Niceville, Florida. ... The 112 points Creighton scored against North Carolina State in Sunday's Paradise Jam semifinals was the fifth-highest total in school history and most since a 115-80 win over Indiana State in 1985.
Top Game Performances
| Mississippi |
|
Creighton |
|
Rasheed Brooks 22 |
Scoring |
Marcus Foster 25 |
|
Deandre Burnett 3 |
Assists |
Maurice Watson Jr. 7 |
|
Sebastian Saiz 14 |
Rebounds |
Marcus Foster 6 |
|
Deandre Burnett 5 |
Free Throws Made |
Khyri Thomas 3 |
|
Rasheed Brooks 2 |
Steals |
Maurice Watson Jr. 2 |
|
Terence Davis 2 |
Blocks |
Justin Patton 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Mississippi
|
77 |
44.4 |
9-27 |
12-17 |
10 |
30 |
5 |
9 |
13 |
| Creighton
|
86 |
52.5 |
16-26 |
8-10 |
18 |
26 |
4 |
4 |
14 |
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