No. 7 Creighton men's basketball rolls to six straight W's
By Ana Bellinghausen, Editor-In-Chief
FIRST HALF
With Marcus Zegarowski announced inactive minutes before tipoff due to a reported hamstring injury from yesterday’s practice, Shereef Mitchell got the starting nod for today’s matchup against St. John’s. The Omaha native sunk a three-pointer for the Jays off the starting possession, setting the tone for top ranked Creighton.
After five minutes of play, Big East foe St. John’s only trailed by a point, making the score 14-13 with 15 minutes left of the first half. The Red Storm’s Julian Champagnie tacked on 9 of those 13 points.
With 10:17 to play, St. John’s head coach Mike Anderson called a timeout after the Jays went on an 8-0 run to open up the game to a 28-19 lead.
Back to back three’s by the Duke transfer Alex O’Connell carried the Creighton advantage to 37-25 with 7:56 left in the first half. That marked O’Connell’s third three-pointer of the day, putting him at 100% behind the arc.
With 4:44 left before half, Creighton rolled to a 14-point lead after a two Ryan Kalkbrenner dunks. This sequence gave Kalkbrenner nine points to his name, matching O'Connell's team high nine total points.
At 2:22 in the first, Denzel Mahoney sank a three to also tie Kalkbrenner and O’Connell with nine points on the score sheet.
On the opposing side, Champagnie continued to lead the Red Storm in scoring with 16 points and two rebounds going into the break.
Despite Champagnie’s efforts, the Jays led 56-39 at midway with scoring leader Mahoney contributing 11 points and two assists.
SECOND HALF
After five minutes of play in the second half, St. John’s cut their deficit to 12, with a score of 65-53 at the first media timeout.
Mitch Ballock drained a deep three-pointer after two straight offensive rebounds for the Jays, making St. John’s pay for their lack of rebounding.
Mahoney, with 15 points on the day, put the Bluejays back up by 17 with 13:40 left to go. On the ensuing possession, a defensive rebound sent O’Connell on the fast break with a layup to raise the advantage to a game-high 19 for Creighton with 13:06 to go.
At 11 minutes left in the contest, the No. 7 Jays retained their 17-point lead with a score of 77-58.
At 7:20, coach Greg McDermott called a timeout after a 6-0 run by the Red Storm, allowing St. John’s to cut the lead back down to 13.
With four minutes left of play, St. John’s brought the lead down to 11. The Bluejays went on a small scoring drought, giving the Red Storm a glimpse of momentum.
At the final media timeout Creighton remained on top 87-76. Mahoney still owned the Creighton team high in scoring with 17, followed by O’Connell’s 16 points.
Out of the break, Mahoney cashed in on three straight possessions, racking up 24 points for himself and bringing the Jays to a 94-79 lead.
A deep Ballock three pointer ended the game with a score of 97-79. No. 7 Creighton picked up their 10th win on the season and are 6-1 in Big East play.
St. John’s forward Champagnie and his team-high 33 points was not enough to overcome the top ranked Jays.
Six different Bluejays scored double digits with Mahoney at the top with a career-high 24 points and four rebounds.
Creighton continues Big East play at Butler on Jan. 16 at 3 p.m.