Creighton Men's Basketball Drops Players Era Opener to Baylor

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Creighton men's basketball forced three ties in the second half but could never pull ahead in an 81-74 loss to Baylor to start the GEICO Players Era Men's Championship on Monday afternoon in Las Vegas.

Creighton dropped to 3-2 on the season, while Baylor is 4-0.

Hudson Greer (16), Josh Dix (15) and Nik Graves (12) scored in double-figures for the Jays. Creighton made a season-high 11 three-pointers in the game, outscored BU 20-14 in transition, and 25-12 off the bench.

Baylor scored on its first three trips and never trailed in the game, though it never led by more than 12. The Bluejayshad two spurts, scoring five in a row to get within 15-13 and later six straight to narrow the gap to 28-24, but both times Baylor responded with a three-pointer to keep CU at bay. A deep three-pointer from Graves in the waning seconds of the first half trimmed Baylor's lead to 44-36 at the break.

CU scored the first six points after the intermission, getting a pair of scores from Owen Freeman and two free throws by Jasen Green to get within 44-42. Baylor countered with the next seven points to extend their lead to nine.

Trailing 51-42 with just over 15 minutes to play, CU embarked on a 10-2 run that included three-balls by Isaac Traudt and Greer to close within one and force a Baylor timeout. Three-pointers by Traudt and  Dix tied it at 58 for the first tie of the game. The game was also tied at 60-60 and 62-62 before an 8-0 burst from the Bears turned away CU.  The Jays halved that margin on scores inside by Greer and Green with 4:23 to go, and were down 75-72 with 36.9 left after two Green free throws and 77-74 with 18.4 left, but Baylor made their free throws down the stretch.

Baylor outscored Creighton 27-7 in second chance points, including an 16-2 margin after the break, which was ultimately the difference. All five Baylor starters scored in double-figures, led by 21 points from Cameron Carr, 14 by Dan Skillings Jr., 13 by Obi Agbim, 11 by Tounde Yessoufou and 10 from Michael Rataj. The Bears won the rebound battle 45-28, including 22 caroms on the offensive glass..

Creighton is back in action on Tuesday at the GEICO Players Era Men's Championship when it takes on No. 15 Iowa State. That game will tip at 1 p.m. Central and be televised on truTV.