Nebraska Cornhuskers vs Creighton Bluejays Match Player Stats On Dec 11, 2020

Marcus Zegarowski scored 22 points and Denzel Mahoney added 20 as host No. 8 Creighton used a strong second half to down in-state rival Nebraska 98-74 on Friday night in Omaha, Neb.

Freshman Ryan Kalkbrenner added 13 points and eight boards for the Bluejays (4-1), who managed to bounce back from Tuesday's heartbreaking 73-72 loss at No. 5 Kansas.

Creighton, which outscored the Cornhuskers 54-34 in the second half, has won 13 straight at home over Nebraska, and eight of nine overall in this series.

Teddy Allen had a career-high 26 points with nine rebounds for Nebraska (3-3), which committed 25 turnovers for the game and went scoreless for more than four minutes of the second half, to lose its second consecutive contest.

Creighton didn't have an easy time with the Cornhuskers through the first 20 minutes, but held a four-point lead to start the second half. The Bluejays used a 7-0 run early in the second half to take a 55-46 lead, thanks to a 3-pointer from Mahoney and two baskets from Kalkbrenner.

Nebraska got within 55-51 on a 3-pointer from Trey McGowens (15 points), but the Bluejays pushed that advantage to 61-51 on back-to-back 3-pointers from Mitch Ballock and Mahoney. The hosts blew the game open with a 23-2 run, and finished shooting 52.1 percent from the field and 14-of-30 from beyond the arc.

In what was a rather entertaining first half, Creighton used an early 9-0 run to go up 15-8, capped by a Zegarowski 3-pointer. However, the Huskers used a 7-0 spurt to tie the contest. A 9-2 Creighton run, capped by another Zegarowski 3, gave the hosts a 24-17 lead. But again, Nebraska fought back, thanks in part to back-to-back buckets from Allen, to tie the game at 26-26.

The Huskers, who shot 48.0 percent in the first half, eventually went up 33-30 with just less than four minutes to go before the break. But the Bluejays used a 12-2 run to regain control of the contest, highlighted by a Ballock 3-pointer, and ended up taking a 44-40 lead into halftime.

--Field Level Media