No. 15 Creighton rebounds from first loss by beating Oklahoma State, 79-65
Baylor Scheierman scored 21 points and Oklahoma City native Trey Alexander added 20 as No. 15 Creighton rebounded from its first loss of the season with a 79-65 victory over Oklahoma State on Thursday night.
"It was great," Alexander said. "It was good to be in front of a lot of family and a lot of friends, so the excitement was there tonight, and I’m glad we were able to pull out a W."
Steven Ashworth scored 17 points and went 4 of 5 on 3-pointers, while Ryan Kalkbrenner had 16 points and 12 rebounds. The Bluejays (6-1) shot 53% from the field and outrebounded the Cowboys 38-30 in a Big East-Big 12 Battle game that was tied 23-all after 11 minutes.
"If they’re going to latch onto Trey and Baylor and make their life tough, there’s space for somebody," Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. "And Steven’s a good player, we’ve just been waiting for his time. He got us off to a great start, because we didn’t stop Oklahoma State all that great in the early going, and Steven’s ability to score the basketball kept us in the game early until we got going."
Javon Small had 24 points to lead Oklahoma State (3-4), which shot 40% for the game and was outscored 17-0 during a decisive Creighton run in the first half.
"That spurt-ability has been something that this team has been good at, and we’re going to need to continue to do that," McDermott said. "That’s why we run, that’s why we push the pace, that’s why we want the tempo in our favor — we think at some point we can hit you with a run. And obviously, that run was the difference in the game."
Creighton made 16 of 27 field goals (59%) in the first half and led 47-29 at the break. Ashworth scored 14 points, Kalkbrenner added 12 and Alexander had nine. The Bluejays held Oklahoma State scoreless during a 4:45 span.
Small ended the drought with two free throws to make it 45-29 with 1:23 remaining.
Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy, whose Cowboys face Texas in the Big 12 championship game Saturday (12 p.m. ET), was on hand inside Gallagher-Iba Arena along with star running back Ollie Gordon.
Bryce Thompson was back in the starting lineup for the Cowboys but was limited to seven points on 3-of-8 shooting in 21 minutes. The senior guard missed three-plus games with an injury.
Eric Dailey Jr. had 13 points and 11 rebounds for Oklahoma State, which pulled to 59-47 on a 3-pointer by Small with 9:40 left. Scheierman answered with a 3 of his own to push the lead back to 15.
Oklahoma State entered riding a three-game winning streak, while Creighton was playing in its first true road game of the season.
The Bluejays were ranked No. 8 before getting routed by Colorado State in the finals of last week’s NABC Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Missouri.
"It’s a good win," McDermott said. "Anytime you can go into somebody else’s building and execute the way we did, particularly in the first half, on both ends of the floor, it’s a step in the right direction."
Up next, Creighton visits in-state rival Nebraska on Sunday afternoon (4 p.m. ET on FS1), and Oklahoma State will visit Southern Illinois on Tuesday night (9 p.m. ET).
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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