Creighton University
Northwestern
Northwestern Tops Men's Basketball, 65-52
11/28/2010 3:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball
EVANSTON, Ill. - Not even the presence of two-time All-American Kyle Korver could help Creighton in its first true road game of the 2010-11 season, as host Northwestern defeated the Bluejays, 65-52, on Sunday night. Korver, an eight-year NBA veteran who now plays for the Chicago Bulls, was in the crowd to watch his alma mater as well as his younger brother, senior Creighton guard Kaleb Korver.
Northwestern is off to its first 4-0 start since 1993-94, while Creighton dropped to 4-2 with the setback.
Northwestern led for most of the first half, with Creighton's largest lead coming 15-12 on a score inside by Kenny Lawson Jr. Lawson had nine points and five rebounds early on before Northwestern's trapping zone gave the Jays some temporary fits.
A 10-0 NU run during a six-minute Bluejay drought gave the Wildcats their largest lead of the half at 36-24. Creighton would use a trey by Jahenns Manigat and hook shot from fellow freshman Doug McDermott closed the half with the Jays down just 40-32.
Lawson had 11 points and six rebounds in the first 20 minutes, but was limited to just 12 minutes by foul trouble. Three others had six points, including McDermott, Manigat and Antoine Young, who also dished four assists in the opening half. NU's John Shurna had 10 points in the opening seven minutes and led all players with 14 points before he, too, was sidelined with two fouls, while Michael Thompson had 10 points.
Both teams struggled to score in the first nine minutes of the second half, with nearly as many combined fouls (13) as there were points (14). NU's Thompson snapped that spell when he stepped back to hit a three-pointer from the right corner to make it 50-39 in favor of the hosts. He duplicated his efforts 90 seconds later, putting the Wildcats ahead 53-39 with 9:17 to play and prompting a Bluejay timeout.
Creighton had a chance to trim NU's deficit to 58-50 in the final six minutes, but an Ethan Wragge three-pointer was off the mark and NU's Shurna hit a pair of pair of charity shots after being fouled on the rebound. A short time later, Manigat's three-point attempt that could have made it a six-point game with 3:40 left was off the mark.
Shurna, a preseason National Player of the Year candidate, led Northwestern with 23 points, while Thompson added 18 points. NU made 49 percent of its 49 field goal attempts and 35 percent of its 20 three-point tries.
Creighton had three men in double-figures. Young had 18 points, McDermott added 14 and Lawson finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Creighton shot 37.3 percent from the field but struggled from long-range, hitting just 4-of-21 from downtown (19.0 percent).
Creighton returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts nationally-ranked BYU (6-0).
NOTES: Among those in attendance was Creighton alum Kyle Korver, who now lives in the area and plays for the Chicago Bulls. Korver's younger brother, Kaleb, is a senior guard for the Bluejays ... Doug McDermott reached double-figures for his sixth straight game. That's the longest start to a Bluejay freshman's career since Benoit Benjamin (8) in 1982-83 ... All 20 of Creighton's points in the second half came from Doug McDermott (8) and Antoine Young (12) ... Antoine Young became Creighton's first player to log an entire 40 minutes in regulation since Ryan Sears on March 15, 2001 vs. Iowa.
