Omaha, NE (SportsNetwork.com) - Roosevelt Jones was the goat Saturday and the hero two days later, lifting No. 19 Butler to a 58-56 win over Creighton with a go-ahead runner with 1.9 seconds remaining.
Butler dropped a heartbreaker to Villanova when Jones botched his assignment and left Darrun Hilliard wide open for the deciding 3-pointer, spoiling the Bulldogs' chance at joining Villanova atop the Big East standings.
But a quick turnaround gave Jones a chance at redeeming himself, and the Bulldogs (19-7, 9-4 Big East) survived when Austin Chatman's last-ditch try at the buzzer hit the top of the backboard.
Kellen Dunham and Jones led Butler with 19 and 18 points, respectively, while Chatman and Devin Brooks each netted 17 points for Creighton (12-15, 3-11), which was vying for consecutive wins for the first time since early December.
"Butler played great down the stretch," Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said. "We had a tough time stopping them."
When these teams met last month Creighton was in the midst of a nine-game skid and Butler was starting a five-game winning streak that was halted in Saturday's last-second loss to Villanova.
Butler, though, lost starting forward Andrew Chrabascz for 2-to-4 weeks to a broken bone in his right hand, and the Bluejays have been playing much better with wins in three of five games coming in.
They were ahead by six down the stretch before the Bulldogs rattled off eight straight points in quick fashion.
Dunham scored inside, Brooks was whistled for a phantom foul on Alex Barlow's layup in transition, and following that three-point play, Jones converted one of his own to give Butler a 56-54 lead with 1:53 left.
Brooks Euro-stepped into a layup to tie things, and after exchanging misses, Barlow pulled down a huge offensive rebound to give Butler the final shot.
Jones dribbled away several seconds at the top of the key before driving right and banking in his runner.
"The play was to get it to (Jones) and get out of the way," Butler head coach Chris Holtmann said. "That's what we drew up there."
Creighton ran a similar out-of-bounds play to the one Butler tried against Villanova, and the result was the same.
Butler went nearly eight minutes without scoring at one point in the first half, and a late string of 3-pointers on three straight Creighton trips helped the Bluejays take a slim 29-25 lead into the break.
A 7-0 run by the Bulldogs to open the second half was immediately followed by eight straight points for the Bluejays, and it was no more than a two- possession game the rest of the way.
Game Notes
The Bluejays fell to 1-5 against ranked opponents this season ... The Bulldogs improved to 11-1 when holding opponents to 60 points or less ... Butler came in averaging 71.6 points ... Kameron Woods posted 10 points and 10 rebounds for Butler, which scored 40 points in the paint to Butler's 22.
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