I think I may have blacked out with 10 seconds left to play during Creighton’s Friday quarterfinal game against Northern Iowa. Having moved from press row to the upper recesses of the Scottrade Center, I was perilously close to what seemed like the sun’s outer layer when CU’s Kaleb Korver rebounded a UNI miss, got the ball to Antoine Young, who then found Jahenns Manigat streaking down the court, completely open. As the freshman took the ball to left part of the lane and up for the off-hand layup, to surely put the game away for the Jays, who were up 3 at the time, Creighton’s easiest shot attempt of the evening rimmed around and out.
You’ve. Got. To. Be. Kidding.
Northern Iowa grabbed the rebound, called timeout, and set up a play to potentially tie the game and inflict yet another evening of heartbreak for Greg McDermott, his team, and Jays fans everywhere. But as Kwadzo Ahelegbe tried to draw a foul on a last-second 3-point attempt, the refs put the whistle away, and didn’t give UNI’s senior first-team All-Valley representative the bailout. Buzzer sounds. Game over. Bluejays live to see Semifinal Saturday.
The fact the game was close at the end was a testament to improved shooting and ball movement by the Panthers in the second half, during which they scored 40 points and shot 55% from the field. It was a vast improvement from the first 20 minutes, when UNI chucked in just under 30% of their attempts and scored just 17 points. The Bluejays didn’t blow anyone away with their first half performance, either, but they made enough plays to take a 25-17 lead into halftime. Doug McDermott paced CU in the first half, scoring 9 points and grabbing 7 rebounds, while Kenny Lawson chipped in 7 points in 10 minutes off the bench.
The Bluejays led from tip to buzzer. In the day’s first quarterfinal, Southern Illinois led Missouri State from start to almost the end of the game, but the Bears got an 11-0 run to erase a 9-point deficit and hand SIU a 2-point loss. Maybe that’s why I blacked out; could the same thing happen in back-to-back games, the firs two contests on what always seems to be a crazy day at Arch Madness?
With 2 minutes to play and CU clinging to a 1-point lead, Antoine Young made his last of only 3 made field goals all day (3-12 for the game, for 11 points), giving the Jays a 3-point cushion. And the defense forced a miss during Northern Iowa’s next trip down, only to give up an offensive rebound by Kerwin Dunham and another second-half jump shot by Ahelegbe (he scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half). So, with a minute left and the lead only 1 point, McDermott again called a play for Young. He didn’t connect, but Lawson collected the offensive carom and put it back for his final basket of the night, capping one of his best games in recent memory (18 points, on 7-9 shooting from the field and 4-5 from 3-point range; 5 rebounds in 22 minutes).
Still, the Panthers had a chance. Ahelegbe took another shot with less than 20 seconds to play, but Korver grabbed the timely rebound (his 5th and final of the night) and started the play that would have sealed the deal for CU.
Instead, Manigat left the layup short. And with that, the thousands of Creighton fans in St. Louis started to share a prolonged heart beat, one anxious with the “oh, are you serious, this is going to happen again?!” feeling. But, even though it took more than 30 games to happen, the Jays broke through in a close game. They fended off a foe more experienced in the situation than they, and with it no doubt let a huge exasperation of frustration and joy.
OK, maybe that’s overkill. But is it too hard to fathom that a team so beset by close losses, unable to finish games they were clearly in, may feel a large load lifted from their shoulders? By the sounds of the Creighton fanbase scattered throughout the Scottrade Center, those who made the trip took the opportunity to unleash a yell or two, maybe bottled in since close losses at Missouri State and Northern Iowa and Drake and Wichita State.
Winning Arch Madness is never easy. But you can’t take the title if you don’t win your first game. In an ultimate one-game-at-a-time scenario, the Jays are even with the Bears, their next opponent. Both survived close quarterfinal games, and hopefully both play better in the semifinals. It should be exciting, regardless the outcome, which is all anyone should ever want out of a great event like Arch Madness.