Creighton Hangs On To Defeat Xavier, 94-93

Omaha, Neb. --Austin Swartz turned a missed free throw into a game-winner in the closing second to lift Creighton Men's Basketball to a 94-93 win over Xavier on Wednesday, January 21. The victory pushed Creighton to 12-8 on the season and 6-3 in BIG EAST action, while Xavier dropped to 11-8 overall and 3-5 in conference contests.

Trailing 93-91 with 4.3 seconds on the clock Swartz drew a foul to earn a pair free throws. After the 60 percent shooter knocked down the first, Swartz missed a potential game-tying shot from the charity stripe to the right. Deftly the North Carolina native raced to collect the rebound and elevated to kiss the game-winner off the glass with 0.6 seconds remaining. Following a timeout, Xavier's full-court pass from Roddie Anderson III was deflected without the Musketeers managing to get a shot off.

Creighton and Xavier battled back-and-forth throughout the entire contest as neither team led by more than seven points. That seven point margin came early in the first half as the Bluejays turned a 10-10 contest into 17-10 (10:54) game. The surge was powered by a dunk from Jasen Green, followed by five straight from Swartz.

Xavier responded with five straight, but Creighton held the Musketeers off until Xavier seized the lead at 35-34 with 2:35 remaining. Down 37-36 with under two minutes left, the Jays got back-to-back treys from Hudson Greer to reclaim the advantage (42-37) and took a 42-39 lead into the locker room.

The second half was an offensive showcase to behold, with both teams shooting better than 60 percent and score more than 50 points. 

Xavier used a three-pointer from Anderson to take an 83-79 with with 5:13 left, and also led 85-81 (4:17), 87-83 (3:50), 89-85 (3:14) and 93-89 (0:53) as the teams traded baskets.  But just as it did in its previous home game win vs. Georgetown, the Bluejays found a way.

Blake Harper's layup seconds left sliced the Xavier lead in half to 93-91 with 43.2 seconds left, the only basket of the game for the Creighton sophomore. CU then got a defensive stop and had one last chance with 11.7 seconds left after the rebound was knocked out of bounds.

Following a timeout, Swartz brought the ball upcourt and attacked the glass, where he was fouled with 4.3 left to set up the last-second heroics.

Dix led Creighton with a season-high 19 points, while Nik Graves as well as Austin Swartz finished with 16 points. Also reaching double-digits for the Bluejays were Zugic with 11 points, his first double figure performance of the season, and 10 points from Green. Graves also dished out a career-high nine assists. Creighton shot 54.2 percent for the game, 54.2 percent from three-point range and made 70.8 percent of its free throws.  The Bluejay bench outscored its Xavier counterparts, 40-13.

Xavier got a game-high 29 points from Tre Carroll on 12-for-14 shooting to go with 16 points, nine assists and eight rebounds from Filip Borovicanin. Jovan Milicevic and Malik Messina-Moore rounded out the Musketeers in double digits with 15 and 12 points respectively. The Musketeers shot 56.9 percent from the field and made 12-of-24 three-point shots, in addition to winning the rebound battle 30-29.

The Bluejays are back in action on Tuesday, January 27 in a road game at Marquette. The game can be seen on TNT and truTV with an 8:30 tip time.