Georgetown topples Creighton, wins Big East title
The Georgetown Hoyas celebrate the win over the Creighton Bluejays after the Big East Championship game at Madison Square Garden on March 13, 2021 in New York City.The Georgetown Hoyas defeated the Creighton Bluejays 73-48 to win the title. Elsa/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by ELSA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
Chudier Bile had 19 points and Jahvon Blair added 18 as Georgetown completed its improbable run of four victories in four days with a 73-48 victory over No. 17 Creighton in the Big East tournament title game Saturday at New York City.
Qudus Wahab contributed 11 points and 12 rebounds for the eighth-seeded Hoyas, who climbed above .500 at 13-12 and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Dante Harris added 10 points.
Georgetown, which upset top-seeded Villanova in the quarterfinals, won its first Big East tournament title since 2007 and became the third-lowest seed to capture the conference championship.
Hoyas head coach Patrick Ewing became the first ever to win a Big East tournament title as both a head coach and player, having led Georgetown to three championships in his four-year playing career in the early 1980s. Ewing was coached then by Hall of Famer John Thompson, who was hired on the same day in 1972 by the school.
Marcus Zegarowski led the cold-shooting Bluejays with 17 points, while Alex O’Connell added 11. The Big East tournament’s second-seeded team shot just 28.8 percent from the field, missing 42 of 59 shots.
Creighton has never won a Big East tournament title but has advanced to the title game twice in the last four years. The Bluejays (20-8) are considered a lock, however, for an at-large spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Mitch Ballock drove to the basket and scored for a 13-6 Creighton lead with 12:33 remaining in the first half. It was the kind of start the Bluejays were looking for as Georgetown missed 12 of its first 14 shots.
The Hoyas rallied to score the next seven points — a jumper by Harris, a 3-pointer by Blair and a dunk by Timothy Ighoefe — to tie the game at 13-all.
After a timeout, Zegarowski dropped in a 3-pointer for a 16-13 Creighton advantage.
Blair hit consecutive 3s to put the Hoyas ahead 24-18 with 5:02 to go in the half. Georgetown proceeded to score the next 12 points to complete the half-ending 18-0 run for a 36-18 lead at the break.
The Bluejays misfired on 12 of their 14 shots from beyond the arc in the first half and missed their final 11 field goals overall, finishing just 8-for-30 from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
Georgetown came out aggressive in the second and went ahead 43-21 when Bile hit a deep 3-pointer from the wing.
Following a Creighton turnover, Bile hit another 3-pointer to cap a 14-0 run and Georgetown led 52-21 with 14:58 remaining. The Hoyas cruised to the title from there with little resistance from the Bluejays.
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