No. 10 Marquette survives wild finish, beats No. 19 Bluejays

Updated Feb. 21, 2023 11:18 p.m. ET

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Tyler Kolek's short jump shot gave No. 10 Marquette the lead with 29 seconds left, and the Golden Eagles took a huge step toward the Big East regular-season title with a 73-71 win over No. 19 Creighton on Tuesday night.

The Golden Eagles (22-6, 14-3) saw a 10-point lead with eight minutes left evaporate before Kolek came up big during a wild finish before a sellout crowd at CHI Health Center.

Kam Jones led Marquette with 19 points and Kolek and Oso Ighodaro added 18 apiece.

Baylor Scheierman had 18 points to lead the Bluejays (18-10, 12-5). Ryan Nembhard added 16.

After Trey Alexander missed a 3-pointer following Kolek's tie-breaking basket, Jones made two free throws to put Marquette up 73-69. Ryan Kalkbrenner scored on the other end to pull the Bluejays within two points with 1.9 seconds left.

Marquette turned over the ball on the inbounds pass and Kalkbrenner scored, but the basket was wiped out because Nembhard was called for a foul away from the play.

Jones missed two free throws, and Scheierman was well short on a shot from beyond half court.

Kolek and Jones embraced as the buzzer sounded, and Jones raised his arms as the Golden Eagles began celebrating.

BIG PICTURE

Marquette: The Golden Eagles were picked ninth in the Big East in the preseason and are now closing in on their first regular-season title since it shared the championship in 2012-13.

Creighton: The Bluejays looked to be in control late in the first half and led 40-32 at half. But they committed six turnovers in the first six minutes of the second half, setting the stage for Marquette's comeback.

UP NEXT

Marquette: Hosts DePaul on Saturday night.

Creighton: Visits Villanova on Saturday.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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Baylor Scheierman

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