Photo Courtesy of Marquette Athletics
Creighton junior Ty-Shon Alexander held Markus Howard scoreless in the first half, leading the 15th ranked Blue Jays to a 73-65 win over the Marquette Golden Eagles on Tuesday night at Fiserv Forum.
The 19th ranked Golden Eagles (17-8, 7-6 Big East) have now dropped back-to-back Big East games against ranked opponents (Villanova – Creighton).
The Blue Jays (21-6, 10-4) have won eight of their last nine games and swept the Golden Eagles in the season series.
Howard entered the game as the nation’s leading scorer at 27.3 points a game. But the smothering defense from Alexander allowed Howard to get off just three shots in the first half. He scored 13 in the second half to finish 14+ points below his season average.
The Golden Eagles scored just 22 points in the first half, hitting just 2 of 17 three-point attempts. Marquette trailed 32-22 at halftime.
Sacar Anim had 18 points to lead the Golden Eagles offensively. Alexander finished with 22 points for Creighton.
Marquette hits the road to face Providence on Saturday. Creighton plays host to number-21 Butler on Sunday.