Ballock, Mahoney help Creighton beat Arizona State 67-60

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Mitch Ballock and Denzel Mahoney scored 14 points apiece and Creighton pulled away in the final minute to beat Arizona State 67-60 on Saturday night for its sixth straight victory.

Christian Bishop had all 12 of his points in the second half and Marcus Zegarowski had seven points and eight assists for the Bluejays (10-2), who scored the final six points.

Romello White had a season-high 18 points and 12 rebounds for his fifth double-double and Alonzo Verge Jr. had 19 points for the Sun Devils (8-4), who have lost two straight after suffering a 96-56 loss to Saint Mary’s on Wednesday.

Rob Edwards‘ dunk with 1:10 remaining cut Creighton’s lead to 61-60 before Ballock hit his fourth 3-pointer with 56 seconds remaining to push the lead to 64-60. After a free throw by Zegarowski, Ballock’s break-away dunk completed the scoring as the Sun Devils missed their final four – and six of their last seven – field goals attempts.

Mahoney has 14 points in each of his two games with the Bluejays after gaining his eligibility at the conclusion of the first semester. He transferred from Southeast Missouri State during the 2017-18 season.

Ballock has made at least two 3-pointers in 11 straight games.

Creighton limited Arizona State to 35.4% shooting from the field. The Sun Devils shot 35.9% in their loss to St. Mary’s.

BIG PICTURE

Creighton: The perimeter-oriented Bluejays were ranked the top 20 in NCAA Division I in 3-point field goals per game and have shown they can play with the anyone, beating Texas Tech and and losing only to ranked teams Michigan and San Diego State. Their guards can score. The test will be how they handle the physicality of Big East play as they look to return to the NCAA tournament after a two-year absence.

Arizona State: Alonzo Verge Jr. has taken over the outside scoring load the last four games as the Sun Devils look to find consistent offense around guard Remy Martin and inside presence Romello White. The Sun Devils were shooting 42.9% from the field and 29.8% from three-point range (310th of the 350 Division I schools) entering the Creighton game.

UP NEXT

Creighton will play host to NAIA Midland on Saturday before hosting Marquette in the Big East opener on New Year’s Day.

Arizona State will conclude nonconference play against Texas Southern on Saturday before hosting rival No. 16 Arizona in the Pac-12 opener Jan. 4.