Nik Graves scored 25 of his season-high 28 points in the second half and Creighton kept Greg McDermott’s coaching career going with an 82-69 victory over Rutgers in the College Basketball Crown Tournament in Las Vegas on Thursday night.
Creighton (16-17) advanced to a semifinal matchup with West Virginia on Saturday afternoon, giving McDermott at least one more game after he announced his retirement following the season.
Graves helped the Bluejays seize control after facing a 10-point deficit 10 minutes into the contest.
Graves made 7 of 13 shots and also sank 12 of 13 free throws to eclipse his previous season high of 18 points set in Creighton’s win at UConn on Feb. 18. Graves also handed out eight assists and grabbed five rebounds.
Jasen Green added 16 points and nine rebounds for Creighton, which shot 61.5% in the second half and 45.8% overall. Josh Dix hit four 3s and contributed 14 for the Bluejays.
Rutgers (14-20) finished with its first 20-loss season since 2015-16 – the season before hiring coach Steve Pikiell.
Tariq Francis led the Scarlet Knights with 19 points but shot 3 of 15 from the field and 12 of 12 from the line. Jamichael Davis added 17 and Lino Mark contributed 12 but Rutgers shot 36.9% and went 2 of 14 from 3-point range.
Rutgers took a 10-point lead on a jumper by Kaden Powers with 10:08 left but its shooting cooled off the rest of the half. The Scarlet Knights ended the half by missing 15 of its final 16 shots and Dix sank a 3-pointer with 43 seconds left to cap a 19-6 run.
The Bluejays began surging ahead in the opening minutes of the second and ripped off a 12-2 run for a 52-39 lead on a layup by Blake Harper with 13:06 left. Creighton extended the lead to 63-48 on another basket by Graves with 8:07 left, then his 3 from the top of the key opened a 67-50 edge nearly two minutes later and the Bluejays never let the lead slip below eight the rest of the way..
