Steven Ashworth banked in a 3-pointer from a difficult angle with 5.8 seconds left as Creighton won its seventh straight game with a wild 62-60 victory at Villanova on Saturday.
Ryan Kalkbrenner had 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting to pace Creigton (16-6, 9-2 Big East). Ashworth chipped in 13 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Bluejays, while Jamiya Neal also notched 13 points with a game-high nine rebounds.
Wooga Poplar scored 24 points to lead the Wildcats (12-10, 5-6), which lost its third straight game. Eric Dixon pitched in with 17 points for Villanova, which shot 3 of 17 (17.6 percent) from 3-point range.
The game was tied eight times in the second half, the final one coming at 54-54 on two free throws by Poplar with 3:11 left. Ashworth promptly snapped the deadlock with a 3-pointer.
The Bluejays still led by three before a driving layup by Poplar cut the advantage to 59-58 with 43 seconds to play. Poplar then stepped in front of a pass by Ashworth on the other end, stole the ball and went in for a dunk to give the Wildcats a 60-59 lead.
Ashworth quickly dribbled up and airballed a 3-pointer, but teammate Jasen Green corralled the miss and called timeout as he was falling out of bounds. That provided a second opportunity for Ashworth, who caught the inbounds pass in the left baseline corner and somehow nicked the backboard with the decisive bucket.
Dixon dribbled the ball off his foot on the Wildcats’ final possession as the team lost for the fifth time in six games.
Creighton held a 16-13 lead midway through the first half until Jackson McAndrew’s 3-pointer and Kalkbrenner’s three-point play helped the team take a 23-15 advantage.
However, Villanova answered with a 12-2 run to tilt the scoreboard in its favor. Dixon scored seven points during the burst, which Jordann Dumont capped with a 3-pointer to make it 27-25 with just over three minutes left.
The teams ended the half tied at 29. Dixon scored 11 first-half points to pace the Wildcats, while Kalkbrenner had 10 to lead the Bluejays.
–Field Level Media
