Boxscore

OMAHA, Neb. --  A great University of Evansville performance here Tuesday night fell five points shy and second place Creighton (22-6, 12-4) held off the Purple Aces (15-11, 7-9) in front of a crowd of 16,697 at the Qwest Center. UE is in sixth place in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Evansville returns home for its final two home games--Saturday against Miami of Ohio at 2:30 in an ESPNU Bracketbusters game, and next Wednesday against Bradley at 7:05 on Senior Night.

The Aces stayed close in the first half with 13 points from Shy Ely and 10 from Jason Holsinger, but the Bluejays took a 40-37 halftime lead on the strength of 7-for-18 three-point shooting.  Down by seven late in the game, UE came back behind the three-point shooting of Holsinger and Ely.  Ely brought UE to within one point at 85-84 with 21 seconds to go.  Cavel Witter followed with two free throws for Creighton with 17 seconds to go to make it 87-84.  Ely's three-pointer from the corner hit off the front of the rim, however, and the Bluejays held on for their seventh straight win.

Holsinger finished with 30 points, one away from his career high, and Ely added 26.