Creighton beats Marquette 73-65 in Big East showdown

MILWAUKEE — Ty-Shon Alexander scored 22 points and Marcus Zegarowski added 17, leading No. 15 Creighton to a 73-65 victory over No. 19 Marquette on Tuesday night.

Creighton (21-6, 10-4 Big East) won for the eighth time in nine games, including road victories over three ranked teams, and moved within a half-game of first-place Seton Hall in the conference standings.

Sacar Anim had 18 points for Marquette (17-8, 7-6). Markus Howard, who entered as the nation’s leading scorer at 27.3 points per game, added 13 — all in the second half.

Marquette, which trailed 32-22 at halftime, pulled even at 38 on a jumper from the top of the key by Howard. The Bluejays answered with eight consecutive points, going up 46-38 on a 3-pointer by Alexander with 12:38 remaining.

Damien Jefferson’s 3-pointer put the Bluejays ahead 59-46 with 6:11 left. Brandon Bailey and Howard countered with 3s to cut it to 59-53, but Alexander answered with a 3 of his own.

Howard’s 3 brought Marquette to 65-60. Jefferson scored on a layup and Alexander hit a baseline jumper from the left side to make it 69-60 with 43 seconds left.

Creighton outscored the Golden Eagles 13-5 over the final 5:46 of the first half for a 10-point lead at the break. Marquette shot just 9 of 28 in the first half, including 2 for 17 from beyond the arc.

Howard missed all three 3-point attempts in his scoreless first half.

BIG PICTURE

Creighton: The Bluejays play three of their final four regular-season games at home, where they are 14-1 this season.

Marquette: Three of the Golden Eagles’ final five games are against Georgetown, DePaul and St. John’s — the bottom three teams in the conference. Marquette has beaten all three this season.

UP NEXT

Creighton hosts No. 21 Butler on Sunday.

Marquette is at Providence on Saturday.