Joe Brown
The men’s basketball team continued several streaks in a 79-65 win over Bradley on Wednesday night at the Quest Center. Creighton’s fifth straight victory extended the program’s streak of 20 or more wins in 11 seasons. Additionally, they have gone 13 seasons with at least 10 conference wins. Both of the accomplishments are records in the Missouri Valley Conference.
“I’m proud of our program for doing that,” coach Dana Altman said. “We’ve overcome a lot of injuries in previous years, a lot of adversity and ups and downs. To continue to do that says a lot about our players.
“We still need to finish strong here and we still have a lot of growing to do. But it is a standard we’ve set for our program, and we were able to achieve that.”
Creighton (20-6; 10-4 MVC) has now won 11 straight meetings in Omaha against the Braves (13-12; 7-7 MVC) and remains two games behind Northern Iowa, who defeated Southern Illinois 81-55 on Wednesday night, in the Missouri Valley Conference standings.
The Bluejays took control of the game early in the first half. However, after leading 23-13 with 9:53 left in the first half, Bradley went on a 26-14 run, including a half-court buzzer beater from Sam Maniscalco, which sent Creighton into the locker room down 37-39 at halftime.
After the second half resumed, the Bluejays stepped up and started playing ferocious defense, causing 11 turnovers in the half. The defensive effort produced close to a 10-minute scoring drought for the Braves, who have now lost four straight games.
“We’re playing a lot of guys, and that helps us,” Altman said. “Secondly, I think the guys are communicating better on the defensive end in the second half.”
Bradley’s Theron Wilson, who finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds, had a layup with 10:49 remaining that capped off a 9-0 run by the Braves to take a 56-55 lead. However, the Braves did not convert on another field goal until Taylor Brown scored with 1:06 left in the game and Creighton leading 72-65.
“They made some plays at both ends of the floor,” Bradley coach Jim Les said. “With 10 minutes to go, you have to go win the game. No one is going to hand you anything, and they were the aggressor in that stretch.”
Creighton was able to win due to senior guard Booker Woodfox’s 18 points to go along with four other players scoring in double figures – junior guard Justin Carter (10), sophomore center Kenny Lawson (10), sophomore center Kenton Walker (11), and sophomore guard P’Allen Stinnett (15). The Jays were able to hold the Braves to 41.7 percent shooting while out-rebounding Bradley 32-29.
“This was really a team victory,” Altman said. “We got contributions from so many people.”