Jays Outlast Georgetown In Overtime, 86-83

OMAHA, Neb. -- Down 76-69 with under two minutes remaining, Creighton Men's Basketball rallied to force overtime and eventually outlasted Georgetown 86-83 led by a career-high 33 points from Austin Swartz on Tuesday, Jan. 13. The win pushed the Bluejays to 11-7 on the season and 5-2 in BIG EAST contests, while the Hoyas fell to 9-8 overall and 1-5 in conference.

Down seven with time running out, junior Jasen Green started the late surge with an interior bucket with 1:34 remaining. On the defensive end Josh Dix deflected the ball from the Hoyas into the arms of Green. He repaid Dix with a pass the led to a dunk with 1:05 left in regulation. After another defensive stop, Swartz got loose for a game-tying trey with 17.8 seconds remaining.  Georgetown's final possession almost gave the Hoyas the win as a shot by Langston Love was ruled to have still been in his hand at the buzzer following an extended video review.

Given new life Swartz delivered seven of the Bluejays' 10 points in the extra frame, stealing the opening tip for a three-point play and later hitting a pull-up jumper with 30 seconds left that was ultimately the game winning shot. Georgetown had the ball down 86-83 with 5.1 seconds left, but KJ Lewis missed his first three-point try in four attempts as the final horn sounded.

Creighton and Georgetown each sizzled at the start, going 7-for-10 from the field. The result was an 18-17 edge for the Hoyas with 14:00 remaining. Knotted at 22-22 moments later (10:32), the final 10 minutes of the opening stanza saw each team surge. Georgetown used a 10-0 run to claim a 32-22 edge with 6:12 left and held a 36-26 lead with 3:07 on the clock before the break.

The Bluejays responded with the final 12 points of the frame, ignited by three-pointers from Swartz and Josh Dix. Nik Graves made it a one-point contest via a traditional three-point play and Swartz connected from long range on Creighton's final possession of the half to send the Jays to the locker room with a 38-36 edge.

Swartz led all scorers with 33, while Dix and Graves delivered 15 and 13 points respectively. Also providing a huge spark was Kerem Konan, who had six points in 18 minutes and finished +11 on the evening.  Creighton made 13 three-pointers, including a career-high eight by Swartz, and finished with just six turnovers. Creighton outscored GU 15-5 in transition and 29-23 off the bench.

Five Hoyas posted double figures, led by 17 from Malik Mack. Georgetown's other four in double digits were Julius Halaifonua (16), Lewis (14), Vincent Iwuchukwu (12) and Caleb Williams (12). The Hoyas shot 56.9 percent from the field, won the rebound battle 32-24 and outscored the Jays 50-28 in the paint.

The Bluejays return to action on Friday, Jan. 16 as Creighton travels to Rhode Island to face Providence in the Amica Mutal Pavilion at 5:30 p.m. Central on FS1.