West Virginia (20-14) took down the Creighton Bluejays 87-70 in the semifinals of the College Basketball Crown tournament on Saturday, April 4. Read more: West Virginia handles Creighton in Crown semifinals.
Legendary head coach Greg McDermott ends his coaching career with a loss as his team wasn’t able to contain WVU’s efficient offense on Saturday. The Mountaineers shot 53% from the field, including 12 three-pointers.
Freshman DJ Thomas led the way with 20 points.
First Half
Harlan Obioha opened the semifinal matchup with a dunk after winning the tip for the Mountaineers. Honor Huff continued where he left off in the first round with back-to-back three’s to give WVU an early 8-0 lead.
Creighton quieted the early surge with a three-pointer from Isaac Traudt. Thomas added a layup before the 16-minute media timeout with WVU up 10-3.
The Bluejays stormed back after the break, with Hudson Greer hitting two triples and adding a pair from the charity stripe. Thomas’s 19th triple of the season and Chance Moore adding two from a layup kept WVU up three at the second media timeout.
WVU continued to keep the Bluejays guessing as they went on a 6-0 run out of the media stoppage. Three different Mountaineers contributed to that run.
Related: Mountaineers held to three hits in 5-0 shutout loss to UCF
Josh Dix connected on a three, but back-to-back buckets in the paint for WVU pushed the lead to double digits. Before the 8-minute media timeout, Thomas connected on another three to give him 12 points in the half.
Both squads started to trade baskets with both doing most of their damage in the paint. Jasper Floyd added three from the wing and Harlan Obioha and Brenen Lorient followed with two buckets in the paint.
Creighton fired back with three of their own shots in the paint.
After the final media timeout, both offenses continued to match one another. Greer cashed in a corner three, but Eaglestaff immediately matched him with a triple of his own.
Both teams couldn’t find their final shots to go in the remaining seconds of the half. That allowed WVU to go into the locker room with a 43-37 lead.
Second Half
Dix and Jason Green connected on an alley-oop to score the first points of the second half for the Bluejays. Lorient came back with a layup.
After a slow start offensively, Dix ignited the Creighton offense with a smooth elbow jumper. Eaglestaff fired back with a triple on the other end.
Green matched him with a three of his own, which Lorient responded with another triple before the first media timeout of the half.
Related: Mountaineers held to three hits in 5-0 shutout loss to UCF
Thomas added to his total with four points in the paint to push WVU’s lead to nine heading into the 12-minute media timeout.
Lorient extended that lead to 12 after a three. And Obioha tacked on three more the hard way after completing the and-one opportunity.
That forced Creighton to call a timeout after quickly falling behind 16 once Thomas converted a layup.
Green brought his team back with six-straight points that carried over past the 8-minute media timeout. Dix added two more from the foul line.
Eaglestaff quieted the Bluejay momentum with back-to-back triples to regain the double-digit lead for the Mountaineers.
WVU added another seven points that was sparked by a three-pointer from Huff. The lead jumped to 18 going into the final media timeout.
West Virginia was able to cruise the rest of the way as the took down the Bluejays 87-70.
What’s next
West Virginia will face Oklahoma on Sunday, April 5 in the championship game. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. ET.
Both teams will be fighting for a grand total of $300,000 in NIL money. With Saturday’s win, WVU’s total is up to $100,000.
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