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Xavier upsets No. 9 Creighton

Mar 2, 2014 - 3:23 AM Cincinnati, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - Semaj Christon had 21 points, Justin Martin scored 19 with 16 rebounds and Xavier upset No. 9 Creighton 75-69 on Saturday.

Dee Davis added 15 points for the Musketeers (20-9, 10-6 Big East), who improved to 15-1 at home and won for the fifth time in their last seven games.

The standing-room-only crowd of 10,483 was a Cintas Center record.

"The crowd was awesome," said Xavier coach Chris Mack. "We felt them each and every possession. Down the stretch, I can't imagine what Creighton was feeling."

Doug McDermott led Creighton (23-5, 13-3 Big East) with 27 points and 10 rebounds but the Bluejays missed a chance to re-take the conference lead from Villanova.

The Wildcats tied Creighton with a win over Butler on Wednesday and can now take sole possession of first place with a win over Marquette on Sunday.

The Bluejays, who beat Xavier at home on Jan. 12, had a four-game winning streak snapped. They have two regular-season games remaining, against Georgetown and Providence.

McDermott opened the game with a layup but Martin and Christon followed with 3-pointers for Xavier and Creighton only had one more lead in the game, 12-11 on a Grant Gibbs 3 with 13 minutes left in the first half.

Creighton shot 39 percent in the game and was 10-of-34 on 3s (29.4 percent).

"They did a good job, but it's on us, too," said McDermott. "I think some of the time we were a little too content to run the perimeter."

Davis' 3 capped a 7-0 Musketeers run and they went up by as many as 11 before taking a 43-34 lead into halftime.

Christon's free throw with 15:22 remaining gave Xavier its biggest lead at 13 points. The Bluejays got as close at three on a McDermott 3-pointer with 5:27 remaining and again on a Gibbs layup a little over a minute later.

But Xavier scored the next six points, starting with a Davis 3, and Creighton never was closer than five the rest of the way.

Game Notes

The Musketeers shot 50 percent overall and 9-of-16 on 3-pointers (56.3 percent) ... Xavier's two remaining regular-season games are against Seton Hall and Villanova.