The Bluejays opened the second half by committing five turnovers on their first 16 possessions and missing 8 of their first 10 shots, including several 3-pointers early in the shot clock.

“They caught us on our heels,” said Creighton guard Isaiah Zierden, who scored five of the Bluejays’ six points in those possessions. “They came out and threw the first punch but we settled down.

“We just had to be strong with the ball. We were throwing it around real quick because of their pressure and we just had to take our time.”

The Cougars clawed back to within nine points, 51-42, when Clarke Rosenberg made a 3-pointer with 14:02 left.

“We were getting hurt with our transition defense,” Creighton guard Devin Brooks said. “We weren’t being as aggressive as we can be. That messed us up a little bit but then we started getting better defensive communication.”

Asked if the Bluejays were concerned when the Cougars got their deficit under single digits, Brooks smiled.

“We were never concerned,” he said. “We knew what was going wrong, so the only thing to do was fix it.”