[dropcap]Creighton[/dropcap] and Seton Hall traded punches in what will remind many of an old-fashioned Big East battle. In the end it was the 19th-ranked Pirates pulling out a 68-67 win after junior guard Sterling Gibbs buried a cold-blooded, game-winning 3-pointer from the top of the key with 2.1 seconds left. Gibbs finished with a game-high 22 points and watched as Creighton guard James Milliken’s jumper to win it came up just short at the buzzer.
“As stupid as this sounds, because I didn’t want it to go in, but if it had gone in I would’ve been happy,” Seton Hall head coach Kevin Willard said of Milliken’s final shot. “I thought [Greg McDermott] played five guys that whole time, and those five kids outplayed us, to be honest with you. I thought the Creighton kids outplayed us. They really gave it their all. That’s the best I’ve seen them play.”
After the game, a fifth straight loss for his basketball team, Greg McDermott said he’s never felt better about this group’s effort. Playing without Austin Chatman (possible concussion) and Isaiah Zierden (aggravated knee), his two top scorers entering the game, McDermott praised his team’s resolve in the face of mounting adversity.
“I’m extremely proud of my team,” McDermott said. “We had 50 reasons to pack it in today. From guys with the flu, to Zach [Hanson] being out, to Zierden getting hurt, to Austin getting hurt, I mean this is as proud as I’ve ever felt, win or lose. They competed, they stayed together, they didn’t doubt each other. It’s a make or miss game, and they made a tough one, and we got a pretty good look and we missed it.”
Creighton fed off its energy on the defensive end and seemed to play with a chip on its collective shoulder from the opening tip. In the game’s first four possessions the Bluejays got a blocked shot by senior forward Avery Dingman, drew a charge with senior center Will Artino, and got an offensive rebound by Artino that led to a free throw and helped the Bluejays open up a 5-0 lead.
Even after Seton Hall used a 14-2 run to take a seven-point lead with 9:35 left in the first half, the Bluejays kept fighting on that end. Even after Austin Chatman and Isaiah Zierden left the game with injuries, the Bluejays never let up on the defensive end. It was finally rewarded on the offensive side of things when junior guard James Milliken got going.
Making his first start of his Creighton career, Milliken hit a corner 3-pointer to cut Seton Hall’s lead to 18-17, then he found senior forward Ricky Kreklow in the same spot to tie the game at 20-all on the next possession.
After Milliken drove to the basket and scored to give the Bluejays a 22-20 lead, 3-pointers by junior point guard Sterling Gibbs and senior forward Brandon Mobley keyed a 8-2 run by Seton Hall in response to give the Pirates a four-point cushion with 3:15 to play in the first half. Later in the half, Milliken found Kreklow open again in the left corner for a go-ahead 3-pointer with just under a minute to go. After a pair of free throws by Gibbs, senior guard Devin Brooks drove to basket, drew the contact, and banked in a shot off the glass just before the buzzer to give Creighton a 32-30 halftime lead over the 19th-ranked Pirates.
The Pirates took the lead back with an 8-2 run to open the second half, capped off by a pair of 3-pointers by sophomore guard Jaren Sina to put Seton Hall up 38-34 with 17:11 to go, but the Bluejays would tie it up a few minutes later on a 3-pointer by Avery Dingman.
The teams met up again with 9:10 remaining when freshman point guard Tyler Clement, filling in for Chatman, hit a free throw to knot the game at 50-all.
From that point on the game would be tied three more times and see the lead change hands on six separate occasions. It started with a 5-0 run by Creighton that ended with James Milliken finding Toby Hegner in the right corner for a 55-54 lead. A lead that didn’t last a minute when Sina hit is third and final 3-pointer of the game to put the Pirates ahead 57-55 with 5:37 to play.
Later, with the Bluejays trailing 61-58, Milliken drove to the basket, scored through the contact and converted a free throw to tie it up once again with just over three minutes left. On Creighton’s next offensive possession the junior guard scored the last of his team-high 20 points when he put the Bluejays ahead 63-61 with 2:16 to go.
The Pirates scored the next four points and retook the lead on a baseline jumper by Brandon Mobley, but Will Artino swung the game back in Creighton’s favor when, with the game tied thanks to his two free throws on the previous possession, he followed up a miss by Milliken with a go-ahead tip-in to put the Bluejays up 67-65 with 17.2 seconds on the clock.
Unfortunately for the Bluejays that set the stage for Gibbs’ aforementioned heroics with 2.1 seconds left that proved to be the final lead change of the evening. “The play didn’t really work as it was supposed to,” Gibbs said. “I was supposed to throw it to Brandon, get the hand off, and really drive. But I told coach I wanted the three, and I told him to set a play up for me to take a three, because I was honestly feeling it in the first half a little bit. They didn’t really allow me to get any threes up in the second half. Honestly, I really just wanted to end that game, because if we would’ve went to overtime it would have been tough for us.”
McDermott said that play was defended as well at it could have been and thought his top defender Avery Dingman made the play a tough one for Gibbs to convert. “Gibbs had it out, and we made a late switch and put Avery who I feel like is our best defender on him,” McDermott said. “They tried to run a hand-off right off the out of bounds play, and Avery did a great job of blowing that up. Then Gibbs spun off like he was going to back-cut, and obviously Avery has to respect that somewhat and got back to him a little late on the denial. I mean, it was an unbelievably challenged shot.
“If you look at the two shots on film, the one they made and the one we missed, both coaches would’ve taken the one we missed. And sometimes when it rains it pours and right now it’s pouring.”
Will Artino Posts Career Night For Banged Up Bluejays
Senior center Will Artino closed the game with 14 points and a career-high 11 rebounds in a career-high 35 minutes. With Creighton’s other two centers, Zach Hanson (shoulder) and Geoffrey Groselle (flu) mostly unavailable, Artino stepped up to fill the void on the backboards and screening for his guard core on the perimeter. Not only were his 35 minutes the most he has played in his career, it was the first time he’s ever played more than 28 minutes in any game.
“I was just doing whatever I could to help,” Artino said. “I was trying to spark the team, give them energy. Just let them know that we got it. Coach Mac talked to me about being a better leader and come in with the type of edge that I need to come in with. That was what I tried to do today. No matter what the situation was and I felt like I was able to do that for the most part.”
When asked why the team, given the adversity they were dealt in the first half, didn’t just lay down and take another loss, Artino gave a very candid, honest response, “That’s not the way we’ve been coached,” he said. “That’s not the Creighton way. Obviously a lot of things lately haven’t gone in the right direction for us, but that’s something we don’t feel like is the right thing to do for our team and our fans.
“We’re coming off a four-game losing streak and there was 17,000 fans still there to watch us. That’s enough of a reason not to fold. We’re playing for this city that’s had our back for the last four-to-five years for me, and as my career is winding down I want to treat them as well as they’ve treated me these last few years.”
Tyler Clement Ready When Number Was Called
Redshirt freshman point guard Tyler Clement was thrust into action tonight when Austin Chatman left the game for good with a head injury at around the nine-minute mark of the first half. Clement played a career-best 26 minutes, dishing out four assists while only turning the ball over one time operating against one of the best guards in the Big East in Sterling Gibbs.
That performance was not lost on his head coach, who complimented the 6-foot-1 guard a few times during the post-game press conference.
“You talk all the time about guys being ready,” McDermott said. “Ricky [Kreklow] is coming off the flu and played 25 really good minutes for us, and again I can’t say enough about Tyler. Most guys thrown into that situation against a guy like Sterling Gibbs would not play with the moxie and the poise that that young man did, so he’s a great example for all of us.”
Clement said that in the first half he wasn’t expecting to be running the team the rest of the game, but he has been prepared to fill in when he’s needed. “I knew I was going to start the second half, so from that standpoint I was just trying to get ready right away,” he said. “But I’m always just trying to stay ready. Especially when Coach Mac is putting me in, just stay ready and get ready to go as soon as I’m in there. Just do what they’re asking me is the main thing.”
James Milliken sat out last season as a redshirt alongside Clement, and that gave the two a lot of time to play with each other on the scout team. That experience was the reason today’s performance came as no surprise to Milliken, “Tyler was amazing. He was real calm with the ball. Tyler’s a good point guard. I played with him last year on scout team and in playing against him he’s always been tough. I knew he could handle this situation,” Milliken said.
Next Up: at Marquette (9-6, 1-2 Big East)
The Bluejays (9-8, 0-4 Big East) will get a few days to prepare for their next game at Marquette on Wednesday, January 14 in Milwaukee, Wis. It’ll start a stretch that will see the Jays play away from home in three of their next four games, including road games at Butler and Villanova after hosting Providence for the annual Pink Out game at CenturyLink Center Omaha on Saturday, January 17th.
As Seton Hall head coach Kevin Willard put it to wrap up his press conference, there are no [easy] wins in this league, “There is not anyone in this league that is a win,” Willard said. “From top to bottom this as good a basketball conference as there is right now. I mean technically Creighton is the last placed team, if that’s the last place team then this is a heck of a conference.”