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Recap

• The first half started slow for both teams, but Creighton was able to get a little breathing room behind a few made triples. The Friars stormed back after the under-8 media timeout to get right back into the game. Alpha Diallo, who was whistled for a foul just over a minute into the game when a Creighton player tripped over his teammates leg, ultimately picked up his second and was forced to the bench with 9 minutes to go in the half. Nate Watson led the way for Providence with 8 first half points despite playing only 11 minutes even though he wasn’t in foul trouble and his counterpart, Martin Krampelj, did sit with 2 fouls for a stretch. Creighton didn’t shoot the ball well overall from the field in the first half, but 6 of the Bluejays’ 11 made field goals were from beyond the arc. The Friars were 3/7 from the free throw line and had 8 turnovers. Frankly, they were fortunate to even be in the game at the half.
• Creighton came out of the locker room looking to force the action to Krampelj and go right at Watson. The Providence sophomore picked up his 2nd personal foul on the first possession and then Krampelj poked the ball away from Maliek White and finished off the fastbreak with a dunk. Diallo was whistled for his 3rd foul a little more than 2 minutes into second half action. Ed Cooley stayed with the junior. Diallo broke the ice for the Friars nearly 3 minutes into the action. The Friars registered 2 turnovers before that first scoring play and they would cough it up 3 more times while only managing 1 additional bucket. Creighton, on the other hand, took advantage of all the extra possessions that Providence gave away and pushed out to a 9-point lead with 14:32 to go in the second half. Watson was called for this 3rd foul and Makai Ashton-Langford was called for a flagrant 1 after fouling Krampelj on a dunk attempt after Ashton-Langford’s 5th turnover of the game. Krampelj made both free throws and Kaleb Joseph scored on the subsequent possession to stretch their lead to 13 as a result of a 10-0 run that happened in less than 90 seconds of game action. The run would stretch to 12-0 and the Creighton lead ballooned to 15 before Kalif Young made a 3-pointer. Cooley questioned his team’s heart during the under-12 media timeout and he put in a gritty lineup including Isaiah Jackson and Drew Edwards and the Friars showed more fire to go along with an 8-0 run to try to get back into the game. The Friars trailed by 9 at the under-8 media timeout. Providence scored 12 points in the time between Cooley’s heart speech and the next media timeout. Creighton managed only 5. The Friars continued their inspired play and chipped the deficit down to 7 with 7:10 to go. Watson remained on the bench until just under 5 minutes remained. That accounted for nearly 10 minutes of second half game action with the big man on the bench. A Jackson jumper with just over 3 minute to go brought Providence within 6 and, after Kaleb Joseph was called for a moving screen, Jackson made a big 3-pointer to cut that 6 point deficit in half. Krampelj stopped the bleeding with a dunk, but Diallo answered that score to keep the Friars within 3 just under 2 minutes remaining. Ty-Shon Alexander made a jumper late in the shot clock and was fouled by White with 45 seconds left. Alexander missed the free throw, and Edwards made a pair at the line after an offensive rebound on the other end to keep the Creighton lead at 3 with 31 seconds to go. Jackson, who was the late game hero last time out at Butler, converted a tough and-1 with 14 second left to tie the game at 59. Creighton’s last second shot attempt went in-and-out and the game headed for overtime.  This was Providence’s second straight game in overtime and the fourth Creighton game that required overtime.  The Friars were 2-1 in extra time on the season, while the Bluejays lost all 3 of their previous overtime games.
• Kalif Young scored the first points of overtime to give Providence their first lead of the game, 61-59. Creighton went on a quick 7-0 run to take the lead, 68-63, with 2 minutes remaining. Turnovers did the Friars in for good after that, and the Bluejays salted the game away at the free throw line.
• Providence didn’t deserve to win this game. To go 10/21 from the free throw line and turn the ball over 18 times on the road should have been a blowout loss. It was heading that way and only got to overtime because of tremendous heart, grit and effort. The result is an 11th league loss and a guaranteed Wednesday night game in the Big East Tournament for the first time in this current configuration of the league.
• Providence was led by Jackson with 21 points. He also added 8 rebounds. Diallo had a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out in the final seconds of overtime. Diallo did go 3/10 at the free throw line. Also in double figures was Young with 12 points.
• Creighton was led by Alexander with 16 points. Krampelj added a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds and Joseph, Marcus Zegarowski and Davion Mintz were other Bluejays in double figures. Joseph had 12 points and Mintz and Zegarowski scored 11 each.
• The Friars returns home to take on Butler in the regular season finale at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on Saturday. It will also be Senior Day at the Dunk. That game tips at 12:00pm and will air on FSN.

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Mike Hopkins

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