Justin Carter scored a career-high 21 points and added eight rebounds in his first regular-season game of the year, but it wasn’t enough as 15th-ranked Michigan got by the Creighton men’s basketball team 83-76 in the first game of the 2009 Old Spice Classic at Disney’s Wide World of Sports on Thanksgiving. Michigan’s Manny Harris finished with 20 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds to lead his team to a come-from-behind win over the Bluejays. Creighton (2-2), which trailed by as many as 11 in the first half, owned its largest lead of the game, up six after an offensive rebound and put-back by Kenny Lawson with 8:09 remaining in regulation. CU was up 65-60 with 4:17 to go, before Michigan(3-0) rattled off the game’s next seven points to claim a 67-65 lead with 90 seconds left in the second half. A jumper by Darryl Ashford tied the contest with 15 seconds left, but Harris went to the free-throw line to convert a pair of free-throws with 5.7 seconds left on the clock. Bluejay sophomore Antoine Young kept the game going when he took the ball the length of the court and hit a shot in the lane to tie the game with 0.2 seconds left on the clock, sending it to overtime tied at 69. The Jays struck first in extra time, with Ashford hitting a jumper. U-M scored the next five points however and would never relinquish that lead, pushing ahead by as many as eight points in overtime, before finishing with the seven-point margin of victory. Harris scored five straight points at one point in overtime and had half of U-M’s 14 points in the extra frame. The first half proved to set the tone for an evenly played contest, as it was marked by several scoring runs from each side. Michigan used an early 11-2 run to build to an 11 point lead, only to see the Bluejays bounce back with an 11-3 run, which included a three-point basket by freshman Ethan Wragge after CU had missed its first six attempts from beyond the arc. The Wolverines regained a double-digit lead, up 37-27 with 2:33 to play in the half, only to see the Jays score the final seven points of the half, including a three-pointer by Ashford at the first-half buzzer. Carter led all players with his 21 points, returning to the floor for the first time since injuring his knee in a preseason game on Nov. 8. The senior played 24 minutes and went 10-for-15 from the field (both career-highs) and added eight rebounds in his first time off the bench in 36 games as a Bluejay. Ashford chipped in 16 points, making 7-of-12 shots from the floor. Kenny Lawson Jr., added 10 points and team-best nine rebounds. Harris, who recorded a triple-double in the first game of the year for U-M, finished just one rebound shy of duplicating the feat on Thursday, topping the team with 20 points and 11 assists. DeShawn Sims had 16 points and game-high 11 boards for the Wolverines, while Laval Lucas-Perry finished with 18 points, making 4-of-6 three-pointers, including three straight shots from long range for Michigan. The Jays shot 50 percent from the field (33-66), 30.8 percent (8-26) from three-point range and made just 2-of-6 three-pointers (.333). Michigan shot 43.5 percent (30-69) from the floor, 37 percent (10-27) from beyond the arc and finished 13-of-23 (.565) at the line. The Wolverines forced 18 Bluejay turnovers, swiping 10 steals to help out-score CU 23-14 in points off of turnovers. Creighton continues its run at the Old Spice Classic on Friday afternoon when it plays the loser of the Marquette-Xavier game currently taking place. The Jays will tip at 1:30 p.m. (CST) on Friday, with the game televised live on ESPNU.
