OMAHA, Neb.—Creighton scored its final nine points from the free-throw line and survived a wild final sequence to hold off struggling Drake 73-69 Wednesday.
The Bluejays (7-8, 2-2 Missouri Valley), who were held without a basket for the final 4:28, escaped after Drake (5-11, 0-4) missed a pair of potential game-tying shots from point-blank range in the final 5 seconds.
Trailing 71-69 after a Josh Young layup with 11 seconds remaining, Drake forced Creighton center Kenny Lawson Jr. to make an errant pass out of double-team in the backcourt against its press. Guard Ryan Wedel stole the ball but missed a layup in traffic as time wound down.
Young’s follow attempt also failed to fall, and Creighton’s Cavel Witter grabbed the rebound and hit two free throws at the other end after being fouled.
“We were fortunate to get the win, but we’ll take it,” Bluejays coach Dana Altman said. “We needed something there to happen, and I thought we made some good plays.”
Creighton led 38-33 at intermission after getting 13 first-half points from Lawson, who finished with 17 points on 8-for-11 shooting. The Jays extended their lead to 13 early in the second half before Drake began to chip away.
A pair of free throws by Young capped a 12-4 surge that pulled the Bulldogs within four with 3:21 left. But the two near-misses at the end sent Drake to its sixth consecutive loss.
“We’ve been going through some rough stretches late in games, and I thought (our players) battled extremely hard in the second half,” Bulldogs coach Mark Phelps said. “We just had a couple of things not go our way in a close game. That’s typical of a regular-season game in the Missouri Valley Conference.”
First-time starter Craig Stanley led Drake with 15 points while Young finished with 14.
Creighton outscored the Bulldogs 15-2 over a five-minute stretch of the first half to move in front 23-12 following a pair of 3-pointers by Casey Harriman. The Jays, who also got 17 points from Justin Carter and 10 from Harriman, led the rest of the way.
Lawson had his third straight strong showing for Creighton before nearly throwing the game away with his pass toward the Drake basket in the final seconds.
“I was scared until the time they said that Cavel got fouled,” he said. “I thought it was a jump ball, and they had the possession arrow. I’m just glad Cavel bailed me out and hit those two free throws. That was a really stupid play on my part.”
