ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands — Marcus Foster admits the No. 12 Creighton men’s basketball team really hasn’t faced a tough test yet, even after beating No. 9 Wisconsin a week ago.
But Creighton faced such a test Monday night, getting pushed to the limit by Ole Miss before coming away with a 86-77 victory in the championship game of the Paradise Jam tournament.
Foster scored 25 points, and three other players finished in double figures for Creighton (5-0), which climbed 10 places in The AP Top 25 rankings released earlier Monday.
“This team is very tight, and we’re very close,” said Foster, the tournament’s MVP. “We’ve just got to stick together when we face adversity.”
Khyri Thomas added 16 points, Toby Hegner had 12 and Justin Patton 11 for the Bluejays (5-0), who trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half and were down 50-40 with 18 minutes, 44 seconds left in the second half.
“There was a lot of pointing fingers, a lot of arguing with the coaches, a lot of arguing with teammates,” Foster said. “At halftime, we talked and came closer as a family. We have to stick together when we face adversity. We haven’t faced adversity all season, but we did tonight.”
Creighton began its rally at that point, whittling down the Rebels’ lead until tying the score twice, the last at 74 with 5:45 left. Thomas then put the Bluejays ahead to stay with his three-point play with 3:40 remaining.
That ignited a 12-3 Creighton run to close out the game, capped by a pair of free throws from Thomas with 40 seconds left. Thomas scored eight of Creighton’s final 12 points.
“It was their offensive rebounding,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “You can’t run if you don’t get a rebound. They were so physical on the glass . and we can’t play with any pace if that happens. But we stuck with it, and the guys stuck together. Defensively and in rebounding, we stepped up when we had to.”
Deandre Burnett and Rasheed Brooks scored 22 points each, and Cullen Neal added 10 for Ole Miss (4-1).
“Changing our defenses slowed them down a little bit,” Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said. “But in the second half, it came down to them making plays. Our kids really battled, but when a top-20 team shoots 16 of 26 from 3, it’s hard.”
Ole Miss dominated the boards in the first half, with a 26-11 advantage. That included a 12-4 edge in offensive rebounds, leading to 19 second-chance points for the Rebels. They finished with a 37-27 advantage, 17-7 in offensive rebounds and 20-4 edge in second-chance points.
Creighton countered the rebounding deficit by shooting 52.5 percent from the field (31 of 59) and making 16 of 26 3-pointers.
n In related news, Ole Miss senior
Sebastian Saiz was named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday.
A 6-foot-9 forward from Madrid, Spain, Saiz averaged 19.7 points and 12.3 rebounds a game last week as Ole Miss went 3-0. He recorded his 11th career double-double with a career-high 26 points and 12 rebounds against Saint Joseph’s. He had 11 points and six rebounds in a come-from-behind win against Oral Roberts in the opening round of the Paradise Jam. Saiz had 22 points and a career-high 19 rebounds in a comeback victory against Massachusetts last week.
The Rebels ended the game on a 11-0 run capped by Saiz’s game-winning put back with 3.3 seconds left to secure the win. He finished a single rebound shy of becoming the first Rebel since Walter Actwood in 1975 to post a 20-point, 20-rebound game.
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