The Marquette Golden Eagles had the ball with a two-point lead with 1:42 left to play on Saturday. That’s when Creighton took over and pulled out a 65-62 win over the Golden Eagles at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski called a timeout to set up a play for the Golden Eagles (16-10, 5-8 Big East). He said his team didn’t run the play and Henry Ellenson missed an off-balance three as the coach questioned his players for not running the play.
“I know we have three freshmen and a sophomore whatever on the court at the end of the game, but 25 games in out of a timeout you have to try to do what we want to do and if it doesn’t work then that’s on me,” Wojciechowski said. “But, you’ve got to try to do it. Not doing it is not acceptable.”
James Milliken hit a three-pointer for Creighton to put the Blue Jays up one. Marquette’s Traci Carter missed a jumper that would have given the Golden Eagles the lead back again.
Marquette elected not to foul and forced Creighton into a miss, but the Golden Eagles couldn’t get the rebound. The ball was tipped out to Isaiah Zierden who was fouled and made a pair of free throws to give Creighton the three-point win.
The loss crushed any chances that Marquette has at receiving an at-large NCAA Tournament bid.
Ellenson finished with 16 points to lead Marquette in defeat.