First-year forward Justin Lewis (2) throws home a dunk in front of Creighton defenders (Photo courtesy of Marquette Athletics.)

An offensive shootout with a top tier team on the road went in the Golden Eagles’ favor Monday night as they defeated No. 9 Creighton 89-84.

This was Marquette’s first BIG EAST game of the season after going 4-2 in nonconference play. This was also their second win of the season against an AP Top 10 opponent, the first coming against then-No. 4 Wisconsin.

Despite struggling to limit Creighton’s shooting behind the 3-point line, Marquette stayed in the game and eventually took over on the offensive end.

GAME MVP:

Multiple players stood out for the Golden Eagles, but the leader of their offense and MVP tonight was sophomore guard D.J. Carton.

Carton has stepped up in a major way in the last two games with the absence of sophomore guard Symir Torrence, and he has taken over as the leader of the MU offense.

He scored 20 points on 6-for-13 shooting tonight, going 5-for-7 from beyond the arc. He was not just a scorer though, as he also collected five rebounds, dished out five assists and collected two steals.

NOTES:

• Redshirt junior guard Greg Elliott scored a career-high 14 points on 5-for-6 shooting, while going a perfect 4-for-4 from three.
• First-year forward Dawson Garcia, redshirt senior guard Koby McEwen and first-year forward Justin Lewis also scored in double-digits. Garcia added 10 rebounds, posting a double-double.
• Coming into tonight, Creighton was 21-1 at home in the last two seasons. They were on an 11-game winning streak at home and their average margin of victory was 19 points.
• Creighton shot a total of 32 3-pointers at a 44% clip. Senior guard Mitch Ballock, who came into the game averaging 7.9 points, made eight threes and scored a total of 26 points.
• Marquette shot 7-for-9 from three in the second half and shot 57% from deep for the game, but also won the battle down low by scoring 30 points in the paint. They also won the rebound battle, outrebounding Creighton 42-27.
• BIG EAST Player of the Year candidate Marcus Zegarowski was limited to eight points on 4-for-13 shooting.

NEXT UP:

Marquette, now in their BIG EAST schedule, will host Seton Hall at Fiserv Forum on Thursday night at 8 p.m. Central Standard Time.

This story was written by Matt Yeazel. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @MJYeazel.