Xavier University Athletics
West, No. 19 Musketeers Down Korver, No. 15 Creighton in Instant Classic
12.31.02 | Men's Basketball
The No. 19 Musketeers improve to 9-2 on the season, as No. 15 Creighton suffered its first loss of the year and falls to 10-1.
Xavier led by 10, 65-55, with 4:08 left to play, but Creighton stormed back to tie the game twice in the final minute of play.
Senior Kyle Korver scored a career-high 32 points for the Blue Jays while tying a school record with eight three pointers, including four in the final 2:16 of the game.
Just over four minutes into the contest, Creighton held a 7-4 lead after a pair of ties and one lead change. But Jackson came off the bench to spark Xavier, scoring the next six Musketeer points to give XU a 10-4 advantage with just under 14 minutes left in the opening period.
After six first half lead changes, the halftime score of 35-all was the ninth tie of the opening period.
The Musketeers stormed out of the gate to start the second half, out-scoring Creighton 12-4 in the first five minutes of the period to open up a 47-39 lead.
Creighton cut into the lead, however, as Xavier went without a field goal for four and a half minutes. The Blue Jays cut the margin to three, 47-44, over XU's dry spell.
A pair of Sato free throws and a Dedrick Finn three stretched the Xavier lead to eight, 52-44, with just over 10 minutes left in the contest.
Korver had the answer for Creighton, hitting a three and a jumper to cut the lead back down to three at 52-49 with 9:24 left to play.
After a Tyler McKinney layup for Creighton and a West free throw for Xavier made it 66-57, Korver took over the game.
He hit a trio of three pointers as Xavier managed just one free throw to make it a 69-68 game in Xavier's favor with just 1:15 remaining.
A pair of Jackson free throws with 44 seconds left stretched the lead back to three, but another Korver trey with 36 seconds left negated the advantage.
West hit a layup for Xavier with 23 seconds left, but Kellen Miliner hit a pair of free throws for Creighton with 11 seconds remaining to tie the game at 73.
On Xavier's possession, West got the ball near the three point line on the left side. Hit backed his way in before turning and launching the game-winner off the glass and through.
All Creighton could manage on the last possession was a heave from well past the three point line, preserving the win for the Musketeers.
West, who leads the nation in career double-doubles, recorded his third in a row and the 53rd of his career with 11 rebounds in the game.
Sato, an All-American candidate, added 11 points and six rebounds in the game for the Musketeers.
Xavier's next game will be Saturday at Alabama (No. 1 Associated Press/No. 3 USA Today/ESPN). The game will start at 5 p.m. and will air on FOX Sports Net Ohio.
