Creighton Defeats Georgetown, 91-87, in Big East’s Lone MLK Day Game

The Creighton Bluejays (11-8, 2-4 Big East) earned a valuable conference win on the road Monday evening, defeating the Georgetown Hoyas (12-7, 2-4 Big East) by a score of 91-87. Ty-Shon Alexander led the pack with 26 points on a blistering 6-for-11 three-point shooting. Davion Mintz and Mitch Ballock added 17 and 10 points, respectively. Jessie Govan tallied his league-leading seventh double-double of the season, 22 points and 12 rebounds, for Georgetown. James Akinjo recorded 11 assists off the bench, the most by any Hoya in a single game since the 2016-17 season.

Both teams struggled to find their footing in the opening minutes, with missed shots and turnovers dominating. Georgetown jumped out to a 5-0 advantage, thanks largely to Creighton missing shots more than its ability to its own make attempts. The teams exchanged buckets as the game approached the first media timeout, and Georgetown held a slim 9-7 advantage with 15:00 to play in the half. The Hoyas’ frontcourt of Govan, Trey Mourning and Josh LeBlanc combined to score eight of the their next 11 points, but Alexander and Marcus Zegarowski drilled back-to-back three-pointers to tie the game at 21 apiece midway through the half.

That would be the story of the half; each time Georgetown enjoyed a small advantage, a Creighton three-pointer would suck the momentum out of the building. Alexander hit consecutive three-pointers to tie the game on two separate occasions in the span of one minute. The Bluejays’ well-timed buckets prevented the Hoyas from extending their lead to more than four points for the remainder of the half, and Georgetown led by just one point at halftime, despite owning an advantage in rebounds and turnovers.

The second half mirrored the first, but it was Creighton that enjoyed a slim lead throughout. It took the Bluejays less than one minute to take the driver’s seat off of a Ballock three-pointer. Two bad passes led to four easy points for Creighton, and the Bluejays owned a six-point advantage with 16:56 remaining. Akinjo trimmed the lead to two after making a three-pointer shortly after, but Creighton used a 6-0 run to take its largest lead of the evening at 64-56.

Jessie Govan led a short-lived comeback effort, as his layup and free throw on consecutive possessions gave the Hoyas the lead, which they would maintain for the majority of the next five minutes. Davion Mintz made a pair of free throws with 2:19 remaining to put Creighton in front. Georgetown regained the lead briefly after Govan responded with a pair of made free throws, but the Bluejays executed well down the stretch. Alexander found himself wide open from three-point range after several players from both teams chased a loose ball, and the sophomore drilled the go-ahead shot to win the game. Ballock made all four of his free throw attempts in the final 30 seconds to seal the victory.

Creighton, which has now won twice in the Capital One Arena since conference realignment, will open a three-game homestand on Friday when it hosts Butler (12-7, 3-3 Big East). Georgetown, meanwhile, will play three of its next four on the road. The Hoyas travel to St. John’s (15-4, 3-4 Big East) on Sunday.