Creighton Bluejays break halftime stalemate, pull away from Iowa for 92-84 win

OMAHA, Neb. — No. 8 Creighton broke a halftime tie by making its first eight shots of the second half, built a 17-point lead, and held on for a 92-84 men’s basketball win over Iowa Tuesday night.

Before a CHI Health Center sellout crowd of 17,352, the 3-0 Bluejays sank four 3-pointers in the first five minutes of the second half to turn a 43-43 tie into a 61-49 lead in their Gavitt Tipoff Games matchup.

That lead grew to 80-63, and was still 87-74 with 5:25 left. A 10-2 run pulled the Hawkeyes (2-1) within 89-84 with 1:26 left, but that was as close as it got.

Junior guard Trey Alexander was an assist shy of a triple-double for Creighton. He had 23 points, and career-highs of 11 rebounds and nine assists.

Creighton shot 63 percent from the field in the second half, but didn’t make a basket in the game’s final 5:25.

Iowa senior forward Ben Krikke had a game-high 24 points, almost entirely on midrange jumpers.

“His midrange game is as good as any I’ve ever seen,” Hawkeyes Coach Fran McCaffery said on the Hawkeye Radio Network postgame show.

“We’re definitely not satisfied,” Krikke said. “We came to win the game, and a very winnable game at that. So there’s a little bit of frustration, but we’re going to take this game, learn from it, and win some games.”

Iowa senior guard Tony Perkins added 16 points, six rebounds and three steals.

The Hawkeyes shot 50 percent in the game, the Bluejays 51.6 percent.

Iowa had four freshmen and sophomore Josh Dix in the game for several second-half minutes, and the Hawkeyes reduced their deficit during that time. Freshmen Ladji Dembele and center Owen Freeman had eight points apiece.

Creighton had 32 bench points, 14 from guard Francisco Farabello of Argentina and 12 from sophomore center Fredrick King.

The frenetic first half featured 13 lead changes and six ties. Krikke scored 12 of his 16 first-half points to give the Hawkeyes a 22-15 lead, their largest of the half.

Creighton had a 7-0 run in the span of 21 seconds for a 27-25 edge, and things were seesaw the rest of the half. The Bluejays never led by more three points in the half.

Payton Sandfort scored eight points in the first half, but committed his second foul 10:05 into the game and was benched for the rest of the half. He had 11 points in 18 minutes of playing time. He missed second-half time when he went to the dressing room after a hard fall, but returned to the game.

Iowa had 20 assists to just seven turnovers. Creighton had a mere five turnovers. The Hawkeyes were outrebounded 20-11 in the second half for a 38-30 advantage.

“That was a physical, aggressive game,” McCaffery said. “The officiating had nothing to do with it. What we’ve got to do is play through it, continue to compete, and understand and be accountable for what we could have done and didn’t do. That’s how you get better.”

The Hawkeyes’ next game is at home Friday at 7 p.m. against Arkansas State (1-2), a 105-76 loser to Wisconsin last week.