Creighton puts another Las Vegas trophy in case

It appears Creighton has this Las Vegas tournament thing down.

In December 2008, the Bluejays came to Orleans Arena and beat Fresno State and DePaul to win the Las Vegas Classic. On Saturday, Creighton added the higher-profile Las Vegas Invitational trophy to its collection with an 87-73 victory over Arizona State before 3,000 fans.

In the third-place game, Wisconsin overcame an 11-point halftime deficit to defeat Arkansas, 77-70.

"We didn't come here to just win one game," Creighton coach Greg McDermott said, referencing his team's impresive 84-74 win Friday over Wisconsin. "Our goal was to win the tournament."

The 14th-ranked Bluejays opened a 20-7 lead in the first 5:02. Seven players scored, and Arizona State struggled to find any kind of offensive rhythm.

The Sun Devils hung around thanks to Jahii Carson and Carrick Felix, who heated up midway through the half, and Arizona State was down only 45-36 as the duo accounted for 26 of the 36 points.

But there was no answer for Creighton All-American junior forward Doug McDermott. He had 19 first-half points on 6-for-11 shooting, and continued to be aggressive in driving to the basket instead of settling for jump shots, as he did in Friday's first half against Wisconsin, when he was 6-for-15 from the floor and 1-for-5 from beyond the 3-point arc.

McDermott remained Creighton's go-to guy in the second half. Despite the Sun Devils' double-team efforts, McDermott was still able to make plays. He finished with 29 points while winning tournament Most Valuable Player honors, and it was enough to offset the strong effort by Carson, who singlehandedly kept his team in the game and finished with a career-high 30 points.

Arizona State got as close as 75-69 with 2:58 to play. But a flurry of 3-point tries wouldn't drop for the Sun Devils, and Creighton was able to close it out despite starters Austin Chatman and Gregory Echenique fouling out.

Wisconsin had to overcome cold shooting and foul trouble to overtake Arkansas. Senior forward Mike Bruesewitz, who once again was plagued by foul problems, managed to stay on the floor and had 10 second-half points as the Badgers (4-2) gained a split in Las Vegas.

"We needed this one bad," said Bruesewitz, who finished with 11 points and played the final 7:50 with four fouls. "We were struggling a little bit after (Friday), but the coaches had us well-prepared."

The Razorbacks (3-2) were unable to sustain their full-court pressure defense over 40 minutes as Wisconsin did a better job of moving the ball against the press and finding the open man.

Freshman Sam Dekker led the Badgers with 19 points.

"Our energy level was different," Dekker said. "Once we handled their pressure, they couldn't stop us."

In Saturday's other games, Cornell (3-4) put five scorers in double figures, led by Eitan Chemerinski's 19 points, and beat Longwood (1-5) 84-78, and Florida A&M (1-5) got its first win and kept Presbyterian winless at 0-6 with a 69-55 victory.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter @stevecarprj.