Creighton Men Fall at No. 8 Marquette, 79-71

MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- A 21-2 run spanning halftime by No. 8 Marquette was too much to overcome for visiting Creighton men's basketball on Friday evening before 17,756 fans at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, as the Golden Eagles remained unbeaten at home with a 79-71 victory.

Marquette (13-2) is now 4-0 in BIG EAST play for the first time since 2012-13, while Creighton fell to 9-6 and evened its record to 2-2 in league action.

Freshman Jackson McAndrew helped Creighton to an early lead, draining a corner three-pointer on the first possession before an inside hoop to make it 5-0. Jamiya Neal followed with a pair at the line as Creighton's lead stretched to 7-0. Marquette answered with the next seven points to tie it three minutes later and took their first lead at 10-9 on a three-ball by Ben Gold.

The teams traded the lead seven times in the first 16 minutes before Creighton used a 10-0 run to take its largest lead at 35-27. The spurt began with a dunk from Fredrick King before three-pointers by McAndrew and Steven Ashworth bookended a lay-up by Mason Miller. The lead was short-lived, as Marquette used an 12-0 run of its own to take a 39-35 lead into the half and never trailed again.

McAndrew had 10 points and five rebounds in the first half for CU, and the Bluejay bench supplied 11 points. Marquette got 14 points from Stevie Mitchell to help offset just five points from Kam Jones after the senior All-America candidate missed his first seven shots.

Marquette scored the first four points of the second half before a mid-range jumper by Ashworth snapped MU's 16-0 run. By that point CU had fallen behind 43-35. The Jays dropped behind by as much as 15 points at both 53-38 and 56-41 before a 12-0 surge brought the visitors within three points at 56-53 with 12:30 remaining.

The Bluejays had multiple chances to get within a basket down the stretch but could not break through against the tenacious MU defense.

Neal led Creighton 15 points, while Ashworth had 13 points and a team-high 10 assists. Ryan Kalkbrenner had 16 points and 12 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the year. CU won the rebound battle 41-38.

Jones (22) and Mitchell (18) led the Golden Eagles in scoring. MU converted 12 Bluejay turnovers into 21 points.

Creighton returns to the court on Jan. 11 with an 11 a.m. Central tip at Butler.