Creighton scores major win over Seton Hall

The Creighton Bluejays soared to an 87-82 victory over the Seton Hall Pirates on Wednesday night.

The Jays flew out to the Pirates’ home dwelling in Newark, New Jersey and kept their winning ways up. The victory over the Pirates was their second in a row, sixth in the last seven games and seventh in the last nine. For the Pirates, they’re now in a bit of an unusual place, as they’ve gone 2-2 in their last four games after going on a 10-game winning streak from December 19-January 29.

For much of the first half it was punch-counterpunch between the two sides. Creighton and Seton Hall traded blows for over half of the first 20 minutes, but the Pirates would then go on a run. Fueled by free throws made by star Myles Powell and the tandem of Quincy McKnight and Jared Rhoden, the Pirates would bring their lead up to five points with 7:35 to play. But Creighton then went on a run of their own. Thanks to Ty-Shon Alexander, Denzel Mahoney and Damien Jefferson, the Jays would strike for a 15-2 run that swelled their lead up to as large as eight points. Seton Hall would respond with a 6-0 run to tie the game at 39 points, but Marcus Zegarowski hit a jumper with a second remaining in the period to give CU a 41-39 lead at the break.

The competitiveness between the two sides wouldn’t end there. Each team fired off their best shots for over the first 10 minutes of the second half. Seton Hall went on a quick 7-0 run from the 8:50 mark to the 7:54 mark. But then, the Jays went on a 9-0 run from the 7:37 mark to the 5:38 mark. That 7-0 run catapulted them out to a 5-point lead with 5:38 to play. Powell would answer with a layup but Jefferson struck right back. McKnight would hit a pair of free throws, but there was Jefferson again, laying one up to keep the lead up to five.

McKnight and Romaro Gill would team up to bring The Hall within one. But then, Mahoney would strike with a 3-pointer and two free throws from Zegarowski brought the lead up to six points. Six would be as large as it would get from there, but The Hall just could not creep back further. Alexander and Mahoney would hit six straight free throws to end the game to give them their five-point W.

18 was the magic number for Creighton on Wednesday. Four players — Ty-Shon, Zegarowski, Jefferson and Mahoney — all hit the 18-point threshold. Christian Bishop hit double figures as well, as he scored 11 points on the night, giving the Jays five double-figure performances in the W. It’s no surprise why this team has succeeded all season long, as they’ve gotten efforts like this almost on a nightly basis. They succeeded at the FT line as well, going 21-for-25 at the line. They were bested in percentage by the Pirates, but the Jays had five more attempts and four more makes than The Hall.

McKnight led all SHU scorers with 20 points while shooting 50 percent from the field. Powell scored 12 points, but was an ineffective 3-for-16 from the field and 1-for-11 from beyond the arc. Gill and Sandro Mamukelashvili each scored 13 points while going a combined 11-for-16 from the field. Scoring wise, they packed a punch. But their 7-for-31 mark from 3 hurt by game’s end, even if they did fall just one bucket short of Creighton’s made 3-pointers (8). Funnily enough, both teams made the exact same amount of buckets — 29 — it’s just that SHU came away with six more attempts (69 to Creighton’s 63).

Creighton will look to add to their winning ways as they face the DePaul Blue Demons on Saturday. Seton Hall, meanwhile, hopes to return to form on Saturday when they go to Friartown to take on the Providence Friars.