OMAHA, Neb. — Pop Isaacs had 24 points and six assists to lead the No. 15 Creighton men’s basketball team to a 93-87 victory over No. 14 Purdue on Saturday night in a charity exhibition game at CHI Health Center Omaha. The contest raised $150,000 for the United Way of the Midlands Disaster Relief Fund.
Creighton led 46-43 at halftime and pushed their lead to as large as 13 in the second half against the defending national runner-ups.
Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year Braden Smith led all scorers with 31 points, also adding seven rebounds and four assists for the Boilermakers.
Purdue scored the first four points of the game before Creighton countered with the next eight points, including five points by Isaacs. A three-ball by Isaac Traudt gave CU its first double-figure lead at 25-15 and the Jays took their largest lead in the opening session at 29-17 on a Fredrick King dunk. Purdue narrowed the lead to two (45-43) in the final minute of the first half before a Steven Ashworth trifecta helped CU to five point edge at the break.
Purdue scored eight of the first 10 points after intermission to recapture the lead at 51-50. The lead was short-lived, as Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner drained a three-pointer. Smith answered with a trey 13 seconds later before Isaacs scored on a floater to give CU the lead for good for the final 17:27. Freshman Jackson McAndrew buried a three-pointer with 11:15 left to put CU up 68-60 and force a Purdue timeout. The Boilermakers whittled the lead down to four before CU capped a 13-4 run with a dunk by Isaac Traudt to take an 81-69 lead with just under eight minutes remaining.
Creighton’s lead was trimmed down to five on a pair of occasions in the final two minutes but the Boilermakers got no closer down the stretch. A free throw in the final second by Jasen Green closed out CU’s 93-87 victory.
In addition to the 24 from Isaacs, Steven Ashworth had 16 points and a game-leading eight assists and Kalkbrenner owned a Bluejay-best six rebounds and three blocks to go with 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting. CU shot 60 percent from the field (36-60) and made 13-of-28 three-point shots as well as 8-of-11 free throws. The Jays dished 25 assists and outscored the Boilermakers 46-32 in the paint and 31-13 off the bench.
Trey Kaufman-Renn had 22 points and eight rebounds and Fletcher Loyer scored 17 points and dished five assists to supplement Smith’s big night. The Boilermakers shot 47.8 percent from the field, 8-of-21 from three-point range and 15-of-24 at the line. Purdue also won the rebound battle, 33-31.
Creighton opens the regular-season on Nov. 6 at 8 p.m. vs. UTRGV.
More to come…
