Horne, Arizona St. beat Creighton 58-57 for 3rd straight win

Dec 15, 2021, 04:07 am

OMAHA, Neb. -- — DJ Horne had 12 points, Marreon Jackson and Jay Heath each scored 10 and Arizona State beat Creighton 58-57 on Tuesday night.

Arizona State (5-6) has won three straight games following a five-game skid to close a stretch of six losses in seven games.

Ryan Hawkins and Alex O'Connell each made a 3-pointer in an 8-2 spurt that gave Creighton a 40-32 lead — the largest by either team — with 15:42 to play. Jackson scored seven consecutive points during a 15-4 run over the next 6 minutes that gave Arizona State its first lead since midway through the first half at 47-44. The Bluejays tied it twice from there, the second coming when Ryan Nembhard hit two free throws to make it 56-all with 1:07 to play. Heath made a wide-open layup 13 seconds later and Hawkins made 1 of 2 from the free-throw line to cap the scoring with 37 seconds to go.

Ryan Kalkbrenner led Creighton (8-3) with 16 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. O'Connell added 11 points and seven rebounds. Hawkins, who went into the game averaging a 14.5 points on 48% shooting, made 2 of 12 from the field and finished with six points and 10 rebounds

Heath, a 91% (21 of 23) shooter from the free-throw line this season going in, missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 6 seconds to go but Nembhard missed a tightly-contested shot at the buzzer.

The Sun Devils have 18 wins — tied with Western Kentucky for most in Division I — in games decided by 5 points or fewer since the start of the 2019-20 season.

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