Win Streak Continues for Creighton men at Georgetown
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- An 18-3 run to end the first half proved to be the difference as Creighton earned a 63-53 victory at Georgetown on Wednesday night at Capital One Arena. It was Creighton's league-leading seventh double-digit BIG EAST win of the season.
Preseason BIG EAST favorite won its fifth straight game to improve to 14-8 on the season and 8-3 in BIG EAST play. Georgetown dropped to 6-17 and is 1-11 in league action.
Down 18-17 early, Creighton used a 9-0 run over 110 seconds to break open a close game. Ryan Kalkbrenner had a pair of lay-ups, Trey Alexander scored on a drive and Ryan Nembhard drained a triple to give CU a 26-18 lead and force a Hoya timeout with 4:26 left in the first half. The onslaught continued a minute later when Kalkbrenner dropped in an alley-oop from Alexander as the Bluejay lead reached double-digits (28-18) for the first time. A Scheierman trey in transition, another Kalkbrenner lay-up and a score by Alexander made it a half-ending 18-3 run as the Jays took a 35-21 lead into the break. It was the fourth time in CU's last five games that the Bluejays owned a double-digit halftime lead.
Kalkbrenner made all five of his shots in hte first half to lead all scorers with 10 points, while Alexander owned four points, four rebounds and four assists without a turnover. Creighton outrebounded Georgetown 28-16 before the break and held GU's leading scorers, Primo Spears (17.1 ppg.) and Brandon Murray (14.6 ppg.) scoreless on combined 0-for-14 shooting. The Hoyas were led by seven points from Qudus Wahab and Jay Heath in the first half, with the latter making his first appearance since finger surgery on Dec. 30th.
The Hoyas opened the second half with a 20-11 spurt to draw within five (46-41) before a steal and score by Alexander pushed the Bluejay advantage to seven. Alexander then countered a Hoya answer with a three-pointer out of the eight-minute media timeout, then a drive to hoop as the lead returned to double-digits (53-43) with 7:20 remaining. Nembhard would follow with a step-back three-pointer to beat the shot clock to push the edge to 56-43 and seal the victory.
Kalkbrenner led all players with 16 points, Kaluma had 12 points, Nembhard 13 and Alexander scored 11. CU owned a 48-34 lead on the glass, paced by 11 rebounds form Scheierman.
Wahab paced the hosts with 14 points, Spears had 10 and Murray owned 11.
Creighton returns home on Saturday to host Villanova at 6:40 p.m. on FOX, 1620 The Zone and 101.9 The Keg. The game will be a stripe out for Bluejay fans, with alternating sections of blue and white.
NOTES: Baylor Scheierman has made a three-pointer in each of his last 32 games played, and all 22 contests he's played for Creighton. That's tied for the ninth-longest mark in program history ... Creighton has made a three-pointer in 970 consecutive contests ... Creighton won for just the second time in nine meetings with Georgetown when scoring 73 points or less ... Trey Alexander had his fifth straight game without a turnover, which spans 157 minutes of action ... Creighton has now five straight games, the longest active streak in the BIG EAST ... Creighton has won its last 11 games on CBS Sports Network ... Creighton has won at Georgetown in five of the last six years after losing its first four trips ... Creighton's 8-3 start ties its second-best mark ever through 11 BIG EAST games, trailing only the 2013-14 club that was 9-2, while the 2020-21 squad that made the Sweet 16 also started 8-3 ... ... Baylor Scheierman became the third Bluejay to record 10 double-doubles in a season under Greg McDermott, joining Doug McDermott (2011-12 and 2012-13) and Ryan Hawkins (2021-22).
