Marquette Golden Eagles vs Creighton Bluejays Match Player Stats On Feb 17, 2018

It was the last of a team-high 26 points for Anim, who helped the Golden Eagles (15-11, 6-8) pick up the slack for the injured Markus Howard. The team's leading scorer at 21 points per game, Howard left in the first half after injuring his right hip and didn't return, finishing with just six points.

In his stead, Anim and Andrew Rowsey carried most of the offensive load. Rowsey finished with 21, while Sam Hauser scored 15 points, including the clinching free throws with 5.9 seconds remaining. Greg Elliott added 10.

The Bluejays (19-8, 8-6) fell into a third-place tie with Providence despite a career-high 26 points by Khyri Thomas, who scored his team's last 14 points. Jacob Epperson hit all seven of his shots off the bench and added 14 while Marcus Foster tallied 12 points and Toby Hegner netted 10.

It was just the second win in the last seven games for Marquette, which canned 56.3 percent of its field goals and sank 11-of-24 3-point attempts. Creighton lost despite making 57.1 percent from the field and 11 of 26 from the arc.

Both teams came out of the gate blazing. Just over 12 minutes into the game, Creighton was a sizzling 15-of-20 from the field and Marquette was a measly 13-of-20. At that point, the score was 36-32 Bluejays, and the teams were on a pace to each score 100 points.

But the Golden Eagles were the first team to cool down, missing seven of their last 10 shots of the half. Creighton took advantage, opening up a 53-39 lead when Ronnie Harrell Jr. canned two foul shots with 19 seconds remaining, and settling for a 53-41 halftime advantage.

The Bluejays ended the half at 19-of-27 from the field, converting 6 of 10 from the 3-point line.

--Field Level Media