College Basketball

Foster scores 25 as No. 12 Creighton edges Mississippi 86-77

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 5:42 p.m. ET

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ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) Marcus Foster scored 25 points, and No. 12 Creighton had to rally in the second half to beat Mississippi 86-77 in the championship game of the Paradise Jam tournament Monday night.

Khyri Thomas added 16 points, Toby Hegner had 12 and Justin Patton 11 for the Bluejays (5-0), who trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half and were down 50-40 with 18:44 left in the game.

But Creighton began its rally at that point, whittling down the Rebels' lead until tying the score twice, the last at 74-74 with 5:45 left. Thomas then put the Bluejays ahead to stay with his three-point play with 3:40 remaining.

That ignited a 12-3 Creighton run to close out the game, capped by a pair of free throws from Thomas with 40 seconds left.

Deandre Burnett and Rasheed Brooks scored 22 points each, and Cullen Neal added 10 for Mississippi (4-1).

BIG PICTURE

Mississippi: Dominated the boards in the first half, with a 26-11 advantage. That included a 12-4 edge in offensive rebounds, leading to 19 second-chance points for the Rebels. They finished with a 37-27 advantage, 17-7 in offensive rebounds and 20-4 edge in second-chance points.

Creighton: The Bluejays, fresh off a 10-spot jump in the Top 25 rankings, shot 52.5 percent from the field (31 of 59), and made 16 of 26 3-pointers. That offset Mississippi's advantage in second-chance points.

UP NEXT

Mississippi: Hosts fellow Paradise Jam participant Montana on Thursday.

Creighton: Hosts Loyola (Md.) on Saturday.