MEN’S BASKETBALL: Late Basket Lifts BYU To Upset of No. 21 Creighton

LAS VEGAS, Nev. –(CU Athletics Dec. 10)–A frenetic 12-0 run in the final four minutes gave Creighton an 80-79 lead in the final 30 seconds, but BYU’s Dallin Hall tipped in his own miss with 12.6 seconds left to lead BYU to an 83-80 upset win over the No. 21 Bluejays on Saturday night at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas as part of the Jack Jones Hoopfest.

The loss offset a career-high 27 points from Creighton sophomore Arthur Kaluma, who fouled out with 6:32 left. Creighton played without All-BIG EAST center Ryan Kalkbrenner, who was sidelined by illness.

BYU improved to 6-5 on the season, while Creighton is now 6-4.

The Bluejay splash party started early, making four straight three-pointers to run out to a 19-11 lead. BYU would take the lead as Rudi Williams scored 11 of his 16 first half points in a five minute stretch. The Cougars led by as much as 49-41 before CU scored the final four points of the half. CU made 8-of-13 shots from deep in the first half but were outrebounded 23-13 and outscored 22-8 in the paint..

Kaluma led Creighton with 16 points at the first half, while BYU’s Williams also had 16 points at the break.

After BYU went ahead 56-48 on a Hall jumper, the Bluejays responded with eight consecutive points by Kaluma to tie the game and force a BYU timeout. Redshirt freshman Zander Yates provided a Bluejay spark during that run, sinking two foul shots to cap a 10-0 run and give Creighton its first lead (58-56) since 36-34.

Williams scored six points during a 12-0 BYU run as the Bluejay offense endured a scoring drought of over nearly eight minutes and fell behind 76-65 with 4:40 to go. During that stretch Kaluma picked up his fourth foul and after two minutes on the bench, checked back in and was disqualified 14 seconds later.

Down 11 with 3:26 left, Creighton’s chances for victory looked bleak before going small and uncorking an 12-0 run with Trey Alexander scoring eight of those points. Two free throws by Alexander with 26.0 left gave CU an 80-79 lead. But on the decisive sequence, Hall drove the lane and missed a five footer, but the 6-foot-4 freshman guard tipped in his own miss. The Jays had a chance to win in the final seconds but a three-point try from Shereef Mitchell was off the mark. Hall was fouled with 0.6 left and made both shots. A long inbounds pass by CU was thrown out of bounds as BYU secured the victory.

In addition to Kaluma’s 27 points, Alexander matched his season-high with 17 points. Baylor Scheierman had 13 points and 11 rebounds to become the first Bluejay with four straight double-doubles since Doug McDermott in 2011, and Ryan Nembhard continued his solid play with 11 points, seven assists and five rebounds. The Bluejays shot 38.3 percent overall and made 10-of-27 three-pointers.

Williams had a season-high 26 points, while Gideon George, Fousseyni Traore and Jaxson Robinson each scored 11. Traore added a game-high 12 rebounds to pace a Cougar lineup that won the rebound battle 50-29 and turned 16 offensive rebounds into 21 second chance points, including the game-winning hoop.

Creighton will remain in Las Vegas to conclude play in the Jones Hoopfest on Monday at 8 p.m. Central when it squares off against Arizona State (9-1) in a game that will be televised on FS1.