Creighton Men's Basketball Beats Butler

OMAHA, Neb. -- Seniors Ryan Kalkbrenner, Steven Ashworth, Jamiya Neal and Sami Osmani combined for 60 points, 26 rebounds and 21 assists to help Creighton men's basketball to an 87-74 win over Butler on Saturday on Senior Day.

Creighton closes the regular-season 22-9 overall and matched a program-record for conference wins in a season with a 15-5 BIG EAST mark. The win helped Creighton finish second in the BIG EAST for the second straight season. Butler is 13-18 and 6-14 in BIG EAST play and will be the No. 9 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament presented by JEEP, where it will meet No. 8 Providence.

Kalkbrenner had 27 points and tied a career-high with 15 rebounds, while Ashworth had seven three-pointers in the first half and finished with 23 points and tied his career-high with 11 assists in his home finale. Neal made several big baskets down the stretch and collected 10 points, eight assists and five rebounds. CU made 16 three-pointers and shot 52.3 percent for the game. CU also won the rebound battle 43-26 and dished 24 assists on 34 baskets.

Butler was led by 19 points each from Jahmyl Telfort and Patrick McCaffrey. Butler made 7-of-9 three-pointers in the first 8:10 of the game before cooling off to finish 9-for-22 for the game.

The first half was reminiscent of last year's 99-98 Butler win in Omaha. The teams combined for 51 points before the first media timeout as Butler raced to a 29-22 lead after eight minutes. The Bluejays battled back to take a 41-40 lead on a Jackson McAndrew three-pointer in transition. Though Telfort would answer to give Butler one last lead, the Bluejays closed the half on an 11-2 run that featured two of Ashworth's seven triples before the break. His final trey made him the first player in Creighton history with at least 500 points and 200 assists in the same season.

CU's lead grew as large as 15 on five occasions before Butler made a final push and drew within six points at 76-70 with 4:31 remaining. Back-to-back three-pointers by Neal and Mason Miller gave CU a 12-point edge that eventually reached 15 one final time. Neal, Ashworth and Kalkbrenner checked out to a standing ovation in the final minute, with Osmani leaving the floor not long after, as the Bluejays closed out the 87-74 victory.

With the. win, Creighton clinched the No. 2 seed in next week's BIG EAST Tournament presented by JEEP and will play on Thursday night at 6 p.m. Central against the winner of Wednesday's Georgetown/DePaul First Round match-up.