Senior Guards Lead Creighton Men's Basketball Past Butler

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Senior guard Nik Graves had 14 points and career-highs with 13 assists and six steals while classmate Josh Dix added a season-high 22 points to lead the Creighton men's basketball team to a 76-59 win at Butler. With its fourth straight win inside Hinkle Fieldhouse, the Bluejays close the regular-season with a 9-11 record in the BIG EAST and kept alive its hopes at a bye to the quarterfinals in next week's BIG EAST Tournament.

Creighton improved to 15-16 overall, while Butler dropped to 15-15 and is 6-13 heading into its regular-season finale on Saturday at DePaul.

The first half featured six lead changes and five ties. An 8-0 Bluejay burst featuring three-pointers by Jasen Green and Josh Dix helped Creighton take a 29-28 advantage with 2:34 left, but the Bulldogs ended the half on an 8-3 run to take a 36-32 lead into the intermission. Michael Ajayi had 15 points and seven rebounds in the first half to lead BU, while Creighton was paced by 10 points from Dix and six points and seven assists by Graves.

Creighton opened the second half with a 15-0 run to take a 47-36 lead. Three-pointers by Isaac Traudt and Dix gave CU the lead, Green and Dix had baskets in transition and a pair of free throws by Graves forced a Butler timeout with 16:51 left. After a replay review, a media timeout, and a delay for a roof leak, Traudt capped off the run with his third trifecta of the game to give CU a 47-36 advantage. The lead grew to 58-42 after Graves' career-high fourth steal led to a basket in transition by Dix.

Creighton's run to open the second half stood at 35-12 heading to the penultimate media timeout with 6:11 left, sending a portion of the crowd of 6,895 fans heading to the exits.

Ajayi had his league-leading 17th double-double of the season, finishing with 26 points and 13 rebounds.

Creighton won the rebound battle 37-34, outscored BU off turnovers 27-14, and held the Bulldogs without.a second chance point.

Creighton is the lone team in the BIG EAST with a bye this weekend and will wait for results around the league to determine when and who it plays next at the BIG EAST Tournament presented by Jeep, to be hosted at Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y. On Saturday night the BIG EAST will announce the bracket for the event that runs from March 11-14.