OMAHA, Neb. -- The Omaha men's basketball team faced crosstown foe Creighton for the first time in 25 years Tuesday afternoon, falling 94-67 to the No. 9-ranked Bluejays at CHI Health Center Omaha. The Mavericks are now 1-3 on the season, while CU improves to 2-0.
Leaders For Omaha
Marlon Ruffin paced the Mavericks with a game-high 18 points off the bench for his fourth straight game in double figures. The junior shot 7-of-12 from the field and added four rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Zach Thornhill chipped in nine points, and
Ayo Akinwole had eight more.
Matt Pile pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.
Leaders for Creighton
Six Bluejays finished in double figures, led by Christian Bishop's 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting alongside eight rebounds.
BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year Marcus Zegarowski had a double-double on 11 points and 11 assists with three 3-pointers. Denzel Mahoney (17 points), Antwann Jones (12), Damien Jefferson (11) and Ryan Kalkbrenner (10) rounded it out for CU.
Team Stats
Creighton shot 57.6% (34-of-59) to Omaha's 32.4% (11-of-34) and hit 11 threes for the day. They held a 45-30 rebounding advantage.
Omaha finished with a season-low six turnovers.
Inside the First Half
CU put together a 27-3 spurt in the opening 20 minutes, spurred four triples – including two from Zegarowski -- to go up 32-10. Omaha trailed 50-26 at the halfway point.
Inside the Second Half
Ruffin came alive with 14 points in the second half, hitting 5-of-7 from the field. Omaha came out of the break and trimmed the Jays' lead to 59-40 with the help of five straight points from Ruffin. But another Zegarowski three put CU on an 8-0 run to quiet the effort.
Tonight's game, the first between Omaha and Creighton since 1995, was also the Mavericks' highest-ranked opponent of their Division I era.
Up Next
Omaha hits the road for Drake on Thursday, Dec. 3, with tipoff set for 7 p.m. at the Knapp Center in Des Moines, Iowa. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3, and Gary Sharp will have the radio call on 1290 KOIL. Links to live video, audio and stats will be available on OMavs.com.
