Mitch Ballock came up big in the upset over Villanova (Spomer / WBR) $CLICK TO BUY$
The Creighton men’s basketball team came into Saturday afternoon’s contest with #3 Villanova with their backs against the wall still looking for a signature win in Big East play. Despite injuries and a tall task in front of them, the Bluejays got the game to overtime and stunned the Wildcats 89-83 in overtime.
Mitch Ballock was inserted into the starting lineup for an injured Ronnie Harrell and came up big for the Bluejays. He hit a couple shots early, but then hit the biggest three-pointer in his career with 35 seconds remaining in regulation to put the Bluejays up 72-71 after the Jays were down at one point 68-60 with Villanova looking to close things out. However a stop by the Bluejays and after a missed front end of a 1-and-1 by Khyri Thomas, Marcus Foster fouled Donte Divincenzo with 10 seconds remaining. Fortunately Divincenzo missed one of the two free throws to only tie things at 72, but then the referees swallowed their whistle in the final seconds on a drive by Foster for the win sending the game into overtime.
In the extra session, the Bluejays and Wildcats traded baskets early, but then the Bluejays got out to a four point lead and eventually hit 7 free throws in the final 1:46 including a flagrant foul on a sure Thomas layup and also a backbreaker layup by Ballock Villanova went cold, but Creighton turned on the defense as the Jays get the victory.
Khyri Thomas was on fire early 5-of-5 from three in the first half (Williams / WBR) $CLICK TO BUY$
Foster had a game high 28 points, Thomas had 24 points and Ballock had 13 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, and 3 steals in his first start. Jacob Epperson continued his improvement after burning his redshirt just a few games ago and came up big down the stretch and in overtime putting in 12 points of his own.
WBR photographers Brad Williams and Mike Spomer were there to capture the action. See each of their slideshow galleries below and then head over to the WBR photo store to order your favorite photos.
Game Photos:
Also here is an additional gallery of photos from Mike Spomer.