Thursday’s Big East quarterfinal saw jump-shooting that set the game back 50 years and foul shooting that would have made even Shaquille O’Neal sick. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t pretty, but when it was over Creighton had gutted out a 70-58 come-from-behind upset of Providence at the Garden.
The sixth-seeded Bluejays (24-8) ran off the first 10 points of the second half, turning a 30-27 deficit into a seven-point lead they never surrendered.
The teams shot a combined 8-for-41 from 3-point range and 34-for-59 from the free throw line. Yes, it was that ugly. But Creighton earned it the hard way, scrapping and clawing into Friday’s semifinal against Xavier.
“I’m extremely proud of our team,’’ Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “We were in a rock fight.”
Sophomore Khyri Thomas, thrust into a bigger role in the second half of the season, had a game-high 19 points and six rebounds for Creighton. But it was defense that won the day, notching 10 steals and forcing 22 turnovers. Thomas was at the forefront of that, too.
He switched between guarding Friars guard Kyron Cartwright and leading scorer Rodney Bullock, helping force the former into six turnovers and holding the latter (averaging 16.1 points) to three points on 1-of-8 shooting with four turnovers.
“I don’t think [Bullock] was being as aggressive as the first time we played them. He was passive,” Thomas said. “And Cartwright, he’s super-quick and blew by me. With him I just laid back off at the 3-point line. He made some tough shots, but missed some as well.”
Cartwright had team-high 15 points and seven rebounds while playing with a heavy heart. The Compton, Calif., native’s grandmother, Elaine Henderson, recently passed away and he had flown cross country for her funeral, before rejoining the team for the Big East Tournament. But Providence’s stay didn’t last long. Creighton snapped a six-game winning streak for the Friars (20-12).
Creighton fell behind 30-27 at the break, but opened the half with a 10-0 run. They took a 37-30 lead on Justin Patton’s basket and padded the cushion to 44-34 on a bucket by Zach Hanson.
Marcus Foster added 15 points for Creighton.