DAYTON, Ohio — Dayton had too much of the Wright stuff at the wrong times Saturday for Creighton.

The No. 21 and 22 Flyers turned back the Bluejays’ upset bid as junior forward Chris Wright scored 18 of his 25 points in the second half of a 90-80 victory before a sellout crowd of 13,435 at the Dayton Arena.

Seven of Wright’s points came in the final three minutes and 44 seconds. The 6-foot-8 junior sealed the outcome with a three-point play with 1:56 remaining to put the Flyers up by seven points.

“Chris Wright got himself going,’’ Dayton coach Brian Gregory said. “He was much more aggressive with his slashes and cuts against the zone in the second half.’’

Creighton, playing without three injured or ill veterans and with a fourth — Antoine Young — hobbled by a sore knee, used a 2-3 zone defense almost exclusively.

The strategy worked brilliantly in the first half as the Bluejays forced Dayton to take low-percentage shots from the perimeter. Meanwhile, Creighton shot 55.6 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range in twice building 10-point leads before settling for a 46-41 advantage at halftime.

Dayton became more aggressive in attacking the zone in the final 20 minutes, which allowed the Flyers to shoot 56.3 percent in the second half after finishing the first half at 43.2 percent.

“We fought, but we just couldn’t get enough stops at the end,’’ Creighton guard Cavel Witter said. “The zone was effective early. We got stops, boxed out and got up by 10. But when it counted, we couldn’t get the stops.’’

Dayton deserved part of the credit for that, but the Bluejays knew they had to shoulder some of the blame.

“Our lack of awareness and activity was at times disappointing,’’ Creighton coach Dana Altman said. “We haven’t worked that much on zone, so part of it is my fault. But our guys have better awareness than what they showed, and I was disappointed we gave up some of the shots that we did.’’

The game flipped in a span of six minutes at the end of the first half and the start of the second. Witter gave Creighton its final 10-point lead with a jumper to make it 43-33 with 1:59 left in the opening half.

Dayton used an 8-3 spurt to pull within five at the break, then opened the first 4:07 of the second half with a 17-6 surge that put the Flyers ahead 58-52 and got the crowd back into the game.

“I think our intensity went down,’’ Creighton forward Wayne Runnels said. “We knew every good team makes a run. We knew one was coming and tried to hold strong but couldn’t.’’

The Bluejays took a 67-66 lead when freshman Ethan Wragge buried a 3-point shot with 8:29 to play. Dayton regained the lead on its next possession and twice benefited when Creighton missed the front end of one-and-one opportunities while trailing by two.

London Warren’s layup and a Wright basket on a fast break put Dayton ahead 77-71 with 3:29 remaining. Creighton got back to within 77-73, 79-75 and 82-78 before Wright’s 3-point play sealed the Bluejays’ fate.

“It came down to a couple of plays,’’ Creighton guard P’Allen Stinnett said. “We just had a few mental mistakes and breakdowns that cost us.’’

Stinnett led Creighton with 18 points,, and the Bluejays got 29 points from their two junior college transfers — Runnels (16) and Darryl Ashford (13). Witter and Wragge each added 11.

“The new guys definitely stepped up,’’ Stinnett said.

Dayton got a monster game from backup guard Chris Johnson, who made 7 of 15 shots in scoring 18 points. He also had a game-high 15 rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot.

“If he can play the way he did, we’ll take that every night,’’ Gregory said. “He has elevated his game, but the challenge is going to be playing great each night.’’

Gregory praised Creighton, which came into the game without starting forward Justin Carter (knee injury) and key backups Casey Harriman (illness) and Chad Millard (foot injury).

“They gave us everything they could short-handed,’’ Gregory said. “We did some really good things against a quality team.’’

Contact the writer:

679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com

« Sports - Bluejays Today

Share