Creighton extends win streak to 4, continues dominance of Butler

Jasen Green scored 23 points and Austin Swartz added 22 as Creighton extended its winning streak to four games, returning to Big East Conference play with an 89-85 victory over Butler at Omaha, Neb.

Isaac Traudt scored 16 points and Nik Graves had 11 for the Bluejays (9-5, 3-0 Big East), who continued to emerge from a 5-5 overall start on the season.

Creighton now has eight victories in the past nine games against Butler. The Bluejays also improved to 3-0 in Big East play for the second time in their 13 seasons in the league.

Yohan Traore scored 20 points and Michael Ajayi recovered from a slow start to score 16 points and snare 13 rebounds before fouling out as Butler (10-4, 1-2) has now lost both of its conference games on the road.

Jamie Kaiser Jr. also had 16 points while Evan Haywood added 11 for Butler, which lost despite a 42-35 rebounding advantage.

Creighton led 46-35 in the opening minute of the second half before Butler chipped away at the deficit. The Bulldogs pulled within 59-56 after a 3-point play from Ajayi with 11:51 remaining, the closest they had been since more than three minutes remained in the first half.

But Creighton responded with an 11-4 run to take a 74-64 lead with 6:48 remaining.

Butler's fate essentially was sealed when Ajayi fouled out with 4:48 remaining as Creighton held a 76-69 lead.

The Bluejays built their lead to 82-71 with 3:14 remaining before the Bulldogs pulled within 82-76 on a 3-pointer from Finley Bizjack with 2:17 left.

Haywood put on a one-man show at the end with a trio of 3-pointers over the final 21 seconds for Butler, but the Bluejays countered with six consecutive free throws made.

The Bluejays went 13 of 32 (40.6%) from 3-point range, while the Bulldogs went 8 of 26 (30.8%) from distance.

Green added six rebounds and five assists for Creighton. He converted 8 of 11 shots from the floor and all six free throw attempts.

Creighton shot 56.3% from the floor and made eight 3-pointers in the first half while taking a 44-35 lead into the break. Traudt scored 12 points for Creighton in the first half, while Kaiser had 11 for Butler as Ajayi was held to five points on 2-of-9 shooting.