The Creighton men’s basketball team claimed its third Big East win with a 77-70 win against Marquette Saturday at CenturyLink Center.

Senior guard Rick Kreklow had a career high 19-point game. Senior center Will Artino, junior center Geoffrey Groselle and senior guard Devin Brooks helped assist the team with outstanding performances to secure its seven-point victory.

“Ricky has been incredible, I’m not sure how our locker room would have survived without him, I think those guys would have continued to move forward but he has such a positive spirit about him, he’s kind of uplifting in that way, and not just to his teammates, I’ve learned a lot from him,” coach Greg McDermott said.

Kreklow started off the game draining 3s, similar to his start against Xavier.  He let six three-pointers fly in the first half, sinking five of them and ending the half with 15 points.

“Overall we had a lot of good passes throughout the game. The guys are doing a good job at making quick swings to get open shots for me,” Kreklow said.

The most talked-about play of this game also included one of Kreklow’s many three-pointers.

With three and a half minutes to go in the first half,  Brooks passed the ball just out of reach for Kreklow to get a layup, but Kreklow dove for the ball and tipped it back in just before it crossed the out of bounds line. Senior guard Austin Chatman recovered the ball from the tip, passing it back to Kreklow after he quickly got up and back into position for a corner three. In a matter of seconds, Kreklow went from sliding on the floor to sinking his fifth three-pointer of the day.

“We had some energy. Tt started with Ricky hitting all those shots, that was big, and then a play like that, it takes your energy level to a whole new level. When we’re playing with a lot of energy we’re a lot more successful and it kind of lifted us up,” Artino said.

One of Marquette’s top guards, Matt Carlino, was unable to compete due to a recent concussion. Marquette made a run for it during the second half, coming within five points of the Bluejays. Marquette’s attempt to take the win away from Creighton was lead by Duane Wilson as he scored 20 of his 26 shots.

Artino stepped up his game during the second half after going scoreless during the first half. Artino had a double-double with a career high of 14 assists and 12 points for the game.

“Ricky was outstanding the first half and Will was outstanding the second half,” McDermott said.

Groselle went into double figures for his third straight game, finishing with 12 points. Brooks ended the game with 13 points, five rebounds and six assists.

“For us, we’ve lost a lot of close ones this year; we’ve let a couple slip away. Kind of the mentality we have to take going into each game is this is the game you got to play. You can’t be worried about the last one, the next one. You can’t be worried about the record. You just have to come in and play the game at hand,” Kreklow said.

Overall, Creighton was 54.9 percent from the field, 47.1 percent from 3-point range and 65 percent from the free-throw line.

Creighton faces Butler at home Monday at 8:15 p.m.