Xavier Falls in the Final Seconds Against Creighton in BIG EAST Semifinals

Friday, March 10

New York, N.Y.

9 p.m.

Xavier University

21-13

Creighton

25-8

XAVIER

CREIGHTON

Xavier Falls in the Final Seconds Against Creighton in BIG EAST Semifinals

03.10.17 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Season Stats (PDF)Postgame Quotes

J.P. Macura hits the 1000-point mark for his career; Musketeers await NCAA Tournament seeding

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

NEW YORK - A shot at the buzzer to send the game to overtime fell short for the Musketeers, as Xavier fell 75-72 to Creighton in a back-and-forth battle in the BIG EAST Tournament semifinals. Three Musketeers hit double figures as Xavier moved to 21-13 overall.

Xavier awaits NCAA Tournament seeding, to be announced on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. on CBS.

NOTABLE

J.P. Macura led the Musketeers with 22 points, including hitting on 6-of-11 from outside, matching his career high for made threes in a game. Macura, who entered the game with 980 career points at XU, moved into the Xavier 1,000 Point Club with his performance.

Trevon Bluiett finished with 18 points, hitting on 7-of-12 field goals.

Quentin Goodin finished with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists.

RaShid Gaston led the Musketeers with six boards as the Musketeers out-rebounded the Bluejays 31-24.

FIRST HALF

Xavier's first four field goal were from outside the arc, hitting 4-of-5 on threes to open the game and take 14-8 lead. Back-to-back baskets for Bluiett, combined with nearly three minutes without a field goal for the Bluejays helped the Musketeers push the lead out to nine, 18-9, with 12 minutes remaining in the half.

After the Musketeers went ahead by nine, Creighton scored five unanswered to get within five. After going 5-of-7 from three to open the game, the Musketeers missed their next four attempts from outside, but eight points inside, led by six for Sean O'Mara's 3-of-3 shooting from the field in the first half, helped the Musketeers maintain a two-possession lead for the remainder of the half.

Creighton would get no closer than four during the remainder of the first half before the Musketeers extended the lead back out to eight. A Bluejay bucket at the buzzer sent the two teams into locker room with the Musketeers ahead six, 37-31.

Macura led the Musketeers with nine points scored on three made three pointers.

Xavier owned a 23-12 advantage on the boards, including a 7-1 advantage on the offensive glass which the Musketeers used to outscore the Bluejays 10-2 on second chance points. Gaston led the way with five rebounds in the first half.

SECOND HALF

Bluiett scored the opening bucket of the second half to push the Xavier lead back to eight when Creighton put together an 11-2 run to take the lead for the first time since the opening minutes of the game, leading 42-41 less than four minutes into the half.

Creighton hit on 10 straight field goal attempts during the first 10 minutes of the second half, but the Musketeers, led by six points early in the second half for Goodin, kept the Bluejays within striking distance.

CU led by as many as six going into the final six minutes when an 8-2 run for the Musketeers tied the game at 62-62. After a Bluejays bucket, a Macura three, his third straight make from beyond the arc, put the Musketeers ahead, 65-64, with four minutes to play.

The two teams went into the final three minutes of the game tied, 67-67. Creighton would take a three point lead into the final 30 seconds of the game before a Bluiett three tied the game at 72-72. Creighton hit it's seventh three pointer of the second half with six seconds to play to take the lead, and Macura's look at the buzzer to tie was just short to set the final score at 75-72 in favor of Creighton.

Macura had 13 points in the second half to lead the Musketeers, hitting 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.

Xavier shot 54 percent in the second half, including 4-of-10 from beyond the arc, but the Bluejays hit over 70 percent overall from the floor, and connected on 77.8 percent on threes.

Creighton owned 12-8 advantage on the boards in the second half.

UP NEXT

Xavier awaits its next postseason match-up with the announcement of the NCAA Tournament bracket on Sunday, March 12. The Selection Show is set to air on CBS on 5:30 p.m.

VIDEO