Creighton Men Defeat Norte Dam In Vegas

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Jamiya Neal (21 points) and Fredrick King (14) had season-high totals in scoring as the No. 21 Creighton men's basketball team closed out a week in Las Vegas with an 80-76 victory over Notre Dame to win the seventh-place game of the Players Era Festival on Saturday morning inside MGM Grand Arena.

Creighton improved to 5-3 and snapped a three-game losing streak, while Notre Dame lost a fourth consecutive game and is 4-4.

Making his first start of the season,  King scored CU's first three points, and seven of its first 12 to help stake the Jays to an early 12-9 advantage. Neal scored the next five before a three-ball by Isaac Traudt gave CU its first double-figure lead (21-11) of the morning. Ty Davis drained back-to-back hoops before Pop Isaacs and Mason Miller found the scoring column, part of an 18-2 run that gave CU its largest lead of the day at 30-13.

The Irish cut into that deficit with a 12-0 run that included three-pointers by J.R. Konieczny and Kebba Njie that trimmed CU's lead to 30-25 before Jasen Green ended the Bluejay scoring drought after nearly five minutes. The Bluejays went into the half with some momentum as Traudt buried a three-ball just before the halftime buzzer that gave CU a 40-30 advantage at the break.

Neal led CU with 11 points at the break while Isaacs had four of CU's 10 assists. The Bluejays shot 51.6 percent before the break and made 6-of-13 three-pointers. Notre Dame was paced by seven points by Braeden Shrewsberry in the opening half.

Notre Dame used an 11-0 run to take a 53-52 lead with 10:15 left, its first advantage since 2-1, only to have Steven Ashworth help CU regain the lead for good with a three-ball with 9:48 left.  Neal followed with back-to-back three-pointers and Ashworth sank two technical foul shots as part of a 11-0 blitz and a double-figure lead.

Notre Dame drew within 70-64 on a three-ball by Garrett Sundra before Shane Thomas scored his first basket of the week with a lay-up with 2:42 left to return CU's lead to eight. The Irish trailed 74-71 before two clutch free throws by Isaacs with 20.1 left gave the Jays a five-point cushion. After another stop, Neal was fouled with 9.8 left and made both.  Notre Dame converted a lay-up before two Ashworth free throws with 4.6 left iced the win.

Neal led CU with a career-high points and King scored 14, while the Bluejay bench contributed 21 points as all five reserves to see action scored. Creighton made 11-of-24 three-pointers, good for a season-best 45.8 percent from deep.

Shrewsberry and Tae Davis led the Irish with 17 points, with all but two of Davis' points coming after the break.

Creighton returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts top-ranked Kansas at 7:30 p.m.

NOTES: Steven Ashworth made a three-pointer for his BIG EAST-leading 26th straight game ... Creighton has made a three-pointer in 1,028 consecutive games ...  Fredrick King earned his first start of the season in place of All-American center Ryan Kalkbrenner, who missed the game due to injury, and finished with a season-high 14 points ...  Fredrick King's 100th career field goal came on an alley-oop six minutes into the game .. Fredrick King fouled out with 56.9 seconds left, snapping Creighton's 60-game streak without a player disqualification that had been the longest streak nationally since 2005-06 ... After just 17 points off the bench in its three-game losing streak, Creighton scored 21 bench points  today ... Notre Dame is the 114th different school that Greg McDermott has beaten in his 31 years as a head coach, and 94th unique school in his 15 years on the Bluejay sideline ... Jamiya Neal made 4-of-6 three-pointers after entering the game shooting 4-for-23 from deep in CU's first seven games.