No. 17 Creighton rallies to take down Xavier

Trey Alexander scored 16 of his season-high 27 points in the first half and Baylor Scheierman added 20 points as No. 17 Creighton rallied for an 85-78 victory over Xavier on Tuesday at Omaha, Neb.

Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 16 points with nine rebounds as Creighton (15-5, 6-3 Big East) found the energy to move past Xavier in the second half after a triple-overtime victory Saturday on the road against Seton Hall.

Creighton trailed 58-51 with 11:56 remaining but Scheierman led the rally, scoring 15 points in the second half while playing all 40 minutes Tuesday after playing all 55 minutes Saturday.

Desmond Claude scored 18 of his 20 points in the first half for Xavier, which saw its three-game winning streak come to an end.

Dayvion McKnight also scored 20 points and Quincy Olivari added 15 as Musketeers (10-9, 4-4) fell to 1-4 on the road.

The first-half duel between Claude and Alexander ended with Xavier taking a 39-38 lead into halftime.

Xavier controlled the early part of the second half to take a 58-51 lead. Creighton came to life on a 9-1 run, with seven of the points scored by Scheierman, as the Bluejays took a 60-59 lead with 10:12 remaining.

After two Xavier baskets, Creighton went on an 8-0 run to take a 68-63 lead with 7:22 remaining. Xavier head coach Sean Miller was assessed a technical foul during the run with Steven Ashworth making both technical free throws. Ashworth finished with 12 points and seven assists.

Xavier inched back, getting to within 71-69 with 5:36 remaining after a jumper from McKnight. But two Ashworth free throws and a 3-pointer from Scheierman, off an Ashworth assist, put Creighton ahead 76-69 with 4:03 remaining.

Scheierman made another 3-pointer with 1:59 remaining to halt a 5-0 run from Xavier and Creighton held off Xavier from there while improving to 9-1 at home.

Creighton shot 49.1 percent in the game, while Xavier shot 40.8 percent.