Matt Velazquez

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Omaha, Neb. — In the moments before tip-off Saturday, all eyes at CenturyLink Center were on Creighton senior guard Maurice Watson Jr., who earned a standing ovation while making his first public appearance since tearing his left anterior cruciate ligament Monday at Xavier.

Once the game began, it was Marquette's seniors who took the spotlight.

Led by 57 combined points from its three seniors, Marquette (13-6, 4-3 Big East) put on an offensive clinic against No. 7 Creighton (18-2, 5-2) in a 102-94 victory. The Golden Eagles put up 50-plus points in each half, adjusting to every defensive shift the Bluejays threw at them in their highest-scoring performance in Big East play since joining the conference in 2005-'06.

"They were terrific," coach Steve Wojciechowski said of his seniors. "Not just with the way they scored, but the way they played. I thought they had tremendous presence on the floor. ... The three of them together, obviously, were huge parts of this win. All three of them are terrific players and I think the urgency that they showed tonight is the urgency that we need from them as we head down this stretch run."

BOX SCORE: Marquette 102, Creighton 94

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Center Luke Fischer bounced back in a big way after struggling for much of the first six Big East games. The 6-foot-11 senior opened the game with newfound aggression at both ends, scoring five points and adding two rebounds in the first three minutes.

Fischer only improved from there. He provided a steady offensive presence and anchored the defense in his best overall game of the season, putting up 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting to go with eight rebounds and a career-high-tying six blocks.

"The past couple games were really frustrating," Fischer said. "I put in extra work this week, I put my trust in my teammates, I told them I had their back and that they can count on me from here on out. It's amazing what happens when you put yourself totally into winning and totally into your team."

Marquette weathered Creighton's fast-paced attack and built a lead as large as eight with 7:44 left in the first half. The Bluejays battled back to pull within one with just under 4 minutes until the half.

That's when Marquette graduate transfer Katin Reinhardt took over.

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Reinhardt went on a personal 10-0 run over the next 2 minutes. He ignited that spurt with a three-pointer and steal for a layup to silence the sellout crowd of 18,145. He then added a shot-clock-beating floater and another triple.

"Actually I didn't even know that was a 10-0 run," Reinhardt said. "I just did a good job of taking what the defense gave me. They switched their bigs off on me and I got to have a lot of open shots in the first half."

Thanks to that run, Marquette took a 50-40 advantage into the half, led by 17 points from Reinhardt. By the end of the game, Reinhardt led Marquette's seven double-digit scorers with a season-high 21 points and seven assists. For much of the second half, Reinhardt took the ball up the court and initiated the offense, navigating Creighton's numerous defensive shifts with aplomb and doling out six assists.

"Katin's a really good play-maker," Wojciechowski said. "A lot of times in the second half he was our second-biggest guy on the floor, so he had a matchup where they had bigger guys on him. We have a versatile offensive team. We have guys who can handle the ball but also play off the ball. Today I felt like the ball needed to be in Katin's hands."

Not to be left out, Marquette's third senior, Jajuan Johnson, provided a notable spark early in the second half. After a quiet first half, Johnson went on an 8-0 run by himself to give the Golden Eagles a 16-point lead with 16:39 left. He finished with 18 points and five rebounds.

Marquette maintained a double-digit lead for most of the second half, growing it as large as 19 points. With 4 1/2 minutes to go the Golden Eagles led, 93-78, and started to ease off a bit.

Creighton did not. Led by Marcus Foster, who scored 30 points, the Bluejays pulled within eight points in the final minute before Foster missed a corner three that signaled the end of the comeback attempt. Bluejays 7-foot freshman center Justin Patton was limited to 19 minutes due to foul trouble in the loss but kicked in 11 points.

Saturday's game marked the first time Creighton gave up 100-plus points in regulation since a 107-63 loss at Iowa State on Dec. 1, 1993. Head coach Greg McDermott said that was where his team missed Watson's presence the most.

"I thought we played a complete game and were able to get over the hump with a road win," Wojciechowski said. "In fairness, they're not who they're going to be. They've only had a couple days to figure out who they're going to be post-Mo Watson. Creighton's a really good team and I think they'll only get better as they figure out what their new roles are going to look like."

The road win was the second over a top-10 team in the Wojciechowski era, with the first coming at No. 8 Providence last January.

"I thought we were very poised," Reinhardt said. "We were patient, we didn't speed ourselves up every time they got into a different defense. ... We just didn't stress out. We really just took our time and were patient and I thought that was a big step in the right direction for us."

Matt Velazquez can be reached at mvelazquez@journalsentinel.com and twitter.com/Matt_Velazquez.