• Box Score: Evansville 65, Creighton 57

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EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Creighton's championship hopes are in danger of turning into roadkill.

The 17th-ranked Bluejays dropped their second straight Missouri Valley game away from home Tuesday night, scoring just one point in the final five minutes and 25 seconds of a 65-57 loss to Evansville before an announced crowd of 5,128 at the Ford Center.

In the span of four days, Creighton went from being alone atop the Valley to perhaps being a game behind Wichita State heading into Saturday's showdown against the Shockers at CenturyLink Center. Wichita State hosts Northern Iowa on Wednesday night.

“We're still in a position where we can control our own destiny,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “But that has to be the farthest thing from our minds right now. We have to get ourselves right.

“Every team in the country goes through a time like this. It sometimes happens in November or December. You hope it doesn't happen in February, but that's where we are right now. We have to work hard to get it fixed.”

Unlike Saturday's loss to Northern Iowa, when the Bluejays were forced to play catch-up most of the game, Creighton was in position to shake a pesky Evansville team a couple of times in the second half.

The Bluejays ended a shaky first half on an uptick, cutting a 10-point deficit to 33-31 at the break. Creighton made its first five shots of the second half, building a 48-41 lead when Austin Chatman buried a 3-point shot from the corner with 12:51 remaining.

The Bluejays held the Purple Aces to three baskets on their first 10 possessions of the second half. Creighton then let Evansville off the ropes, surrendering five straight points as the Purple Aces got themselves, and the crowd, back into the game.

“We gave Creighton some energy heading into halftime, and we talked about how we needed to really jump on them at the start of the second half,” Evansville's Colt Ryan said. “To their credit, they came out and jumped on us.

“When they get up to that 48-41 lead, we addressed it at a timeout. We said we weren't executing. We got a stop the next time down, and that kind of got it going back our way.”

The Purple Aces tied the game at 50 and 52 before a basket by Antoine Young, a steal by Jahenns Manigat and Doug McDermott's fast-break layup put the Bluejays ahead 56-52 with 5:25 remaining. Again, Creighton appeared on the verge of seizing the momentum, but the Bluejays let it slip away.

Creighton allowed Evansville to score on its next four possessions, as Ryan Sawvell made two free throws, Kenny Harris and Ryan drained jump shots and Harris scored on a hard drive to the basket for a 60-56 lead with 2:15 left.

All Creighton could counter with down the stretch was one free throw by Young. The senior guard missed three others, and the Bluejays misfired on their final six field-goal attempts.

The Purple Aces sealed the win with five free throws in the final 26 seconds, then celebrated with their fellow students, who flooded onto the court in what has become the routine when Creighton loses away from home.

“We gave them some good shots at the end, and we didn't execute on offense,” Doug McDermott said. “We had some shots that didn't fall that normally fall for us.

“You have to give them credit. They came out and played a really good game, and we just didn't have it going tonight.”

McDermott led Creighton with 21 points but made fewer than half his shots (7 of 16) for just the second time in the past nine games. He also had eight rebounds, while Chatman added 11 points and Gregory Echenique finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Creighton, which leads the country in field-goal percentage and 3-point percentage, suffered through a second straight tough shooting night. The Bluejays finished at 40.4 percent from the field after shooting 42.1 percent in Saturday's loss at Northern Iowa.

Creighton made 5 of 16 3-point shots (31.3 percent) against the Panthers. Tuesday, the Bluejays misfired on 18 of 22 attempts from beyond the arc.

“You have to be able to knock down shots to loosen up the defense,” Greg McDermott said. “The last two games, we haven't been able to do that.”

The Purple Aces got 15 points from Harris, 14 from Ryan and 12 from Sawvell. Lewis Jones chipped in nine points, with six coming when he made his first two 3-point baskets of the season in the first half. Ned Cox had eight points.

“We had a lot of guys step up tonight,” Ryan said.

Evansville coach Marty Simmons agreed.

“Our bench really gave us a lift,” Simmons said. “I thought Lewis was really good in the first half, and Ned was good.

“And we battled on defense. They're a difficult team to defend. We got a break, because they're a great shooting team and we were fortunate that they missed some shots that we know they normally are going to hit.”

Evansville improved to 13-13 and 7-7 in the Valley. Creighton, suffering back-to-back losses for the first time this season, dropped to 21-4 and 11-3.

“We have to play harder and be sure we're ready for Wichita, which will be a big game for us,” Echenique said. “We cannot go out Saturday with the same mind-set that we did tonight.”

Contact the writer:

402-679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com
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