National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Creighton 88, Providence 73
When: 8:00 PM ET, Saturday, March 8, 2014
Where: CenturyLink Center Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska
Officials: # Jim Burr, # Brian O'Connell, # Earl Walton
Attendance: 18868

No. 13 Creighton 88, Providence 73: Doug McDermott set career highs with 45 points on 17-of-25 shooting, moving past the 3,000-point mark as the host Bluejays took down the Friars.

Austin Chatman added 11 points and seven rebounds for the Bluejays (24-6, 14-4 Big East), who finished the regular season with wins in nine of their last 10 games. McDermott, who also grabbed seven rebounds, set the all-time record for points at CenturyLink Center and moved into seventh place on the NCAA career scoring list.

Bryce Cotton's 23 points led the way for the Friars (20-11, 10-8), who finished fourth in the conference standings and will face St. John's in the opening round of the Big East Tournament. LaDontae Henton totaled 21 points and seven rebounds and Kadeem Batts turned in 13 points along with a game-high 11 boards.

Creighton cruised to a comfortable 45-22 lead by the end of the first half, led by 22 points from McDermott, who sank 4-of-5 from behind the arc in the opening 20 minutes. Providence only managed to shoot 31.3 percent from the field before halftime, led by eight points from Batts and seven from Henton.

In the second half, the Friars pulled to within 15 when Batts and Cotton each sunk a pair of free throws on consecutive possessions with 15:03 remaining but Providence would never pose a real threat. Grant Gibbs added nine points on and made all three of his field goal attempts for Creighton.

GAME NOTEBOOK: McDermott has 3,011 career points, moving past Cincinnati's Oscar Robertson and Butler's Hersey Hawkins among the NCAA all-time scoring leaders. ... The Friars entered play leading the Big East from the free throw line, shooting 78.7 percent but knocked down just 14-of-21 against the Bluejays. ... Creighton enters the conference tournament as the second seed and will face the winner of Thursday's Georgetown-DePaul matchup.
Top Game Performances
 
Providence   Creighton
Bryce Cotton 23 Scoring Doug McDermott 45
Bryce Cotton 4 Assists Devin Brooks 6
Kadeem Batts 11 Rebounds Austin Chatman 7
Bryce Cotton 6 Free Throws Made Doug McDermott 6
Bryce Cotton 2 Steals Devin Brooks 2
Tyler Harris 1 Blocks N/A
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Providence 73 43.3 7-21 14-21 12 29 1 6 9
Creighton 88 64.7 10-20 12-20 20 30 0 4 10