Creighton Bluejays vs Xavier Musketeers Box Score on Feb 27, 2021

Paul Scruggs had 23 points to lead four Xavier players in double figures as the Musketeers upset No. 13 Creighton 77-69 at Cincinnati on Saturday to end the Bluejays' four-game winning streak.

The Musketeers (13-5, 6-5 Big East) have NCAA Tournament aspirations despite having endured three COVID-19 pauses and 10 games postponed this season.

Zach Freemantle had 17 points and 11 rebounds for Xavier to record his fifth straight double-double, and Dwon Odom and Adam Kunkel each had 12 points.

Damien Jefferson led Creighton (17-6, 13-5) with 19 points. Marcus Zegarowski had 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Mitch Ballock and Denzel Mahoney had 11 points each.

Xavier was able to expand a two-point halftime lead to 67-54 on a Scruggs layup with 5:50 remaining but the Bluejays responded with a 9-0 run when a Ballock layup pulled them to within 67-63 with 3:46 on the clock.

Odom made it 69-63 with a jumper from the left corner but Ballock canned a 3 for Creighton to make it 69-66 with 2:21 remaining.

Kunkel then scored for Xavier, Creighton missed two shots and Odom upped the lead to 73-66 on a layup with 1:09 left. Freemantle iced the victory with a breakaway dunk with 45.3 seconds remaining to make 75-67.

Xavier suffered a blow before the game started when it was announced that senior guard Nate Johnson would miss the remainder of the season with a lower left leg injury.

Johnson started the first 16 games before sitting the 83-68 loss at Providence on Wednesday. He is the Musketeers third-leading scorer at 11.4 points per game over 31.5 minutes. He was ranked seventh nationally in 3-point field goal percentage at 45.2 percent.

Without Johnson, the Musketeers shot 33.3 percent (7 of 21) from 3-point range Saturday.

Xavier played an inspired and resilient first half in Johnson's absence to take a 33-31 lead.

Creighton plays at No. 8 Villanova on Wednesday. Xavier is at Georgetown on Tuesday.

-- Field Level Media