The end result for Arizona State basketball against No. 9 Creighton Tuesday night was a loss, but one that second-year coach Bobby Hurley can live with.
ASU trailed by only five, 45-40, at halftime before 6,793 at Wells Fargo Arena but quickly fell behind by twice that when Creighton opened the second half with an 11-6 run.
Under an unrelenting barrage of 3-pointers from the nation's 3-point leader, the Sun Devils trailed by 20 (71-51) with 10:43 left but three times brought the deficit down to 10 including with 6:45 and 5:13 still remaining. Creighton used a 7-0 run to go back up 87-70 with 3:28 left and won 96-85, improving to 12-0 for the first time since 2003-04.