Creighton Men Fall To San Diego State 71-53

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- The No. 21 Creighton men's basketball team fell short to San Diego State, 71-53, on Tuesday afternoon in the opening contest of the Players Era Festival hosted in Las Vegas, Nev.   
 
The Aztecs improved to 3-1 on the season, while Creighton suffered its second loss of the year to drop to 4-2.
 
BJ Davis led the way for the Aztecs with a career-high 18 points and career-high nine rebounds.  Miles Byrd chipped in 16 points for SDSU on 50 percent shooting from three-point range to offset 18 points and five assists from Bluejay junior Pop Isaacs.  Supporting Isaacs was a 12-point effort on four made threes and a career-high 14 boards by freshman sharpshooter, Jackson McAndrew.  
 
Heading into the first media timeout, the Bluejays found themselves trailing 10-8.  McAndrew scored the first points of the contest by knocking down a deep three-pointer, before draining another triple to go into the media break.  The Aztecs were finding success inside early, scoring eight of their first 10 points in the paint. 
 
While San Diego State got started early in the paint, the Bluejays were hot from deep as Isaacs drilled two treys right out of the timeout to bring Creighton within two, trailing 16-14 with 11:03 left in the frame.  San Diego State caught fire in the two and a half minutes following as they embarked on a 9-0 run over the span, while also connecting on their first three-point field goal of the game to expand their lead over the Jays, 25-16 with 8:14 left in the half. 
 
Five consecutive points from junior Fredrick King drew the Bluejays to within four at the 6:22 mark as Creighton finally found their stride inside the arc.  An and-one layup from Isaacs and McAndrew's third deep ball of the half set the Jays ablaze as they pulled back within two.  Creighton clamped down on the defensive end of the floor, holding SDSU to zero field goals in the final three minutes of the frame before Magoon Gwath knocked down a fadeaway jumper at the buzzer for SDSU to seize a 32-28 advantage heading into the locker room.
 
Unlike the first half, Creighton was unable to get off to a hot start offensively to begin the second period and struggled on the defensive end of the floor as SDSU got off to a quick 5-0 run.  All-American center Ryan Kalkbrenner, matched the Aztecs' intensity and knocked down his second field goal of the contest paired with an and-one layup to match the SDSU run. 
 
Following an alley-oop slam by Kalkbrenner at the 14:28 mark, Byrd drilled two triples to power the Aztecs on an 8-2 run, forcing CU head coach Greg McDermott into a timeout trailing 52-40 with 12:55 remaining in the game.  In the minutes following, another McAndrew three-pointer fell as the Bluejays attempted to claw back into the contest, but a deep-ball from Gwath on the ensuing possession quickly matched CU to hold a 17-point lead over the Jays with 7:43 left in the contest. SDSU continued their stifling defense over the next seven minutes and shut down any Creighton push to close out the game, 71-53.

In addition to the 18 points from Isaacs and 12 points and 14 rebounds from McAndrew, Kalkbrenner scored 11 points, grabbed five rebounds and recorded a season-high five rejections, while King recorded seven points and four boards in eight minutes of action.  The Bluejays shot 33.9 percent from the field (21-62) and made 6-of-31 three-point shots as well as 5-13 (38.5%) free throws. The Jays grabbed 40 rebounds and dished 12 assists.
 
Supporting the Aztecs two leading scorers was Gwath with seven points paired with four rebounds and Nick Boyd with seven points, six rebounds and five assists. San Diego State shot 48.4 percent from the field, 8-of-17 from three-point range and 3-of-7 at the charity-stripe. SDSU also grabbed 40 rebounds and dished 13 assists as a team.

Creighton returns to the hardwood on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Central for their second game of the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, Nev. against No. 20 Texas A&M.  The game will be streamed on MAX.