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Creighton had a 15-point halftime lead before cruising in the second half against Louisville in their first-round NCAA tournament game. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Andy Lyons via Getty Images
No. 9 Creighton ran away from No. 8 Louisville in the first half on the way to an 89-75 win in their first-round game in the South region.
The Blue Jays led 49-34 at the break and had a double-digit lead for the entirety of the second half. Louisville got the lead cut to 12 with less than five minutes to go, but any hope of a last-ditch comeback were extinguished when Cardinals coach Pat Kelsey got a technical foul with 4:41 to go.
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Kelsey was protesting the lack of a foul call on Terrence Edwards Jr. as Edwards missed a 3-pointer. Both he and Edwards contended that Edwards was hit on the elbow and Kelsey’s frustration earned him a rebuke from the officials as Creighton went up the court.
As play was stopped for the technical, an apparently frustrated Louisville fan chucked a full water bottle onto the court from near the Creighton bench. The cleanup from the bottle caused a longer stoppage in play, and Creighton cashed in on its two free throws and a basket on its ensuing possession to extend the lead back to 16 points.
Steven Ashworth hit those two free throws and starred for the Blue Jays with 22 points. Jamiya Neal scored a career-high 29 while grabbing 11 rebounds. Before Thursday’s game, Neal had scored 20 or more points just four times all season.
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Creighton will likely play No. 1 seed Auburn in the second round on Saturday. The Tigers play No. 16 Alabama State on Thursday afternoon.
After Selection Sunday, Louisville was thought to be one of the most under-seeded teams in the tournament. The Cardinals went 27-7 and finished second in the ACC to Duke with an 18-2 record. Louisville also lost to the Blue Devils in the ACC tournament title game.
But that success in Kelsey’s first season came as the ACC had one of its weakest years in recent memory. And the selection committee clearly took notice. The Cardinals got a bit of a gift, however, by getting to play in Lexington, Kentucky, just down the road from Louisville. The crowd was heavily red for Thursday’s game, but that didn’t matter as Creighton took any home-court advantage away during the first half.
Louisville's loss also ruined the dream of a perfect bracket for a majority of Yahoo Bracket Mayhem users. Over 56% of Yahoo users had the Cardinals beating the Blue Jays.
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