Creighton Bluejays vs Villanova Wildcats Match Player Stats On Mar 12, 2022

Collin Gillespie scored 17 points, all in the second half, and drilled 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions late in the contest to help No. 8 Villanova secure a 54-48 victory over Creighton in the Big East tournament title game Saturday night in New York.

The second-seeded Wildcats (26-7) earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Gillespie added seven rebounds and five assists while Justin Moore scored 16 points for Villanova, which won the tournament for the fifth time in the last seven events.

Ryan Kalkbrenner posted 19 points with eight rebounds and three blocked shots as Alex O'Connell had 10 for No. 4 seed Creighton (22-11), which failed in its fourth Big East final in school history without a win. Freshman Arthur Kaluma had nine points and 12 rebounds.

Gillespie's pull-up trey over the 7-footer Kalkbrenner with 2:44 remaining put the Wildcats ahead, 47-45. After Kaluma's 3-point attempt rimmed out for the Bluejays, Gillespie drained another 3-pointer -- again over the lunging Bluejays center -- to extend the lead to five.

Creighton cut the deficit to 50-48 on two foul shots by Trey Alexander with 37 seconds left, but Moore made a contested post-up layup for Villanova with 15 seconds to go and Gillespie added two foul shots with six seconds left to ice it.

Villanova appeared to be in good shape with an eight-point lead with 12 minutes to go. But the Bluejays responded with an 18-6 run to grab a 43-39 lead.

Both teams made only eight field goals in the first half, which ended with the Wildcats ahead 19-18 at halftime.

Villanova went on a 7-1 run that included two baskets down low by Eric Dixon to expand its 12-11 lead to 19-12 lead.

But Creighton responded by scoring the next six points, the last two coming on a pump fake and bank shot by Kaluma, to cut the deficit to 19-18 with 1:37 to go in the half.

Creighton took the lead early in the second half when Kaluma fed Kalkbrenner for a layup and a 23-22 lead. But Villanova responded with an 11-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Moore with 12:19 left. That put the Wildcats ahead 33-25.

--Field Level Media