Ashworth gets hot hand and scores 22 to lead Creighton to a 77-67 win over No. 11 Marquette

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Steven Ashworth scored 22 points and made a season-high six 3-pointers, including one in the last minute to help Creighton put away No. 11 Marquette in a 77-67 victory Saturday.

The Bluejays have won nine straight games since losing 79-71 at Marquette on Jan. 3. Creighton (18-6, 11-2) moved within one game of Big East leader St. John’s.

Ryan Kalkbrenner had 19 points and blocked four shots, and Jamiya Neal scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half for the Bluejays.

Kam Jones scored 27 points and David Joplin added 22 for Marquette (18-6, 9-4), which lost its third straight.

Marquette wiped out an 11-point deficit in the middle of the second half and took its last lead at 61-60 on Joplin’s layup with 6:34 left.

The 7-foot-1 Kalkbrenner hit a 3 to put the Bluejays up 67-63 with 3 1/2 minutes left.

Takeaways

Marquette: The Golden Eagles are on their longest losing streak since they dropped four in a row between Dec. 11, 2021, and Jan. 1, 2022.

Creighton: The Bluejays set a program record with their ninth straight Big East win. They matched their best 13-game start in Big East play since they joined the conference in 2013-14. They also have their longest win streak since they started 13-0 in 2016-17.

Key moment

Neal muscled in a shot from under the basket to give Creighton a 72-67 lead, then got the rebound on Stevie Mitchell’s miss on the other end before Ashworth’s 3 made it an eight-point game with 43 seconds left.

Key stat

Ashworth came into the game 3 of his last 26 from 3-point range and went 6 of 9 from beyond the arc. He was 1 of 13 on 3s in the Bluejays’ loss to Marquette last month.

Up next

Marquette hosts DePaul on Tuesday.

Creighton hosts No. 19 UConn on Tuesday.

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