Austin Swartz followed his own missed free throw and sank a 7-foot jumper with less than a second left in the game, fueling Creighton to a 94-93 victory over Xavier on Wednesday in Omaha, Neb.
Trailing 93-91, Creighton gained possession after Filip Borovicanin missed a contested layup with 13 seconds remaining. Borovicanin was whistled for a foul on Swartz as the latter drove to the basket with 4.3 seconds left. Swartz calmly sank the first attempt before gaining possession after missing the second attempt and kissing the ball off the glass for the game-winning shot.
Josh Dix scored 19 points and Swartz and Nik Graves each had 16 for the Bluejays (12-8, 6-3 Big East), who completed a season sweep of the Musketeers. Creighton recorded a 98-57 victory over Xavier in Cincinnati on Dec. 17.
Jasen Green scored 10 points in the first half for the Bluejays before sitting out the second after aggravating his shoulder injury.
Xaiver’s Tre Carroll scored 29 points in his second straight game. He sank his first eight shots of the game and finished 12-of-14 from the floor to fall one point shy of his career high of 30, set in a 79-74 victory over Cincinnati on Dec. 5.
Borovicanin collected 16 points, nine assists and eight rebounds for the Musketeers (11-8, 3-5), who saw their modest two-game winning streak come to a halt.
Xavier scored nine straight points to seize an 83-79 lead with 5:13 remaining in the second half. Borovicanin converted a three-point play and provided a key offensive rebound and set up Roddie Anderson III for a 3-pointer.
The Musketeers scored 12 of the first 17 points in the second half to take a 51-47 lead before Graves and Swartz nailed back-to-back 3s to put the Bluejays back in front.
Hudson Greer made an immediate impact after checking in for the first time with 3:51 remaining in the first half. He sank a 3-pointer on consecutive possessions to give Creighton a 42-37 lead before Malik Messina-Moore drained a 20-foot shot with 13 seconds left to cut the Bluejays’ halftime deficit to 42-39.
–Field Level Media
