No. 14 Arizona hoops holds on to beat Creighton for Maui Invitational title

Oumar Ballo turned in a career-high 30 factors to propel the No. 14 Arizona Wildcats to the Maui Invitational championship over No. 10 Creighton on Wednesday, 81-79.

Arizona (6-0) beat No. 17 San Diego State 87-70 on Tuesday night time within the semifinals to make the title recreation, the place Ballo set to work early and infrequently.

The large man scored 16 factors within the first half on eight photographs and practically had a double-double earlier than halftime with 9 rebounds. His 13 boards within the recreation have been additionally a school finest.

Arizona went into the break main 39-30.

The Blue Jays (6-1) lower the deficit to 47-43 with 15:04 left within the recreation, however the Wildcats received the following seven minutes 19-11 to create some respiratory room.

Creighton saved coming, although.

Ballo completed a robust dunk off a terrific Kerr Kriisa move round two defenders with 2:21 remaining within the recreation to present Arizona an 81-72 lead and finish a 5-0 Blue Jays run, however Creighton scored the following seven factors.

An deliberately missed free throw by Creighton’s Ryan Nembhard down 81-79 with two seconds remaining was rebounded by Azuolas Tubelis to ice the win.

The Wildcats out-shot Creighton 53%-46%, scoring 48 factors within the paint.

Kriisa added 13 factors and 9 assists, Tubelis had 12 factors and Courtney Ramey scored 10.

Nembhard scored 20 factors for Creighton, which was making an attempt to beat a ranked opponent for the third straight day.

Arizona is now three-time winners of the Maui Invitational, final doing so in 2014.

Head coach Tommy Lloyd was a part of two Maui titles as a Gonzaga assistant in 2009 and 2018.

Arizona’s subsequent matchup can be in-conference at Utah on Dec. 1.

The Related Press contributed to this report.

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