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Doug McDermott’s last-second 3-pointer lifts Creighton past St. John’s (VIDEO)

Doug McDermott

If you leave Doug McDermott this open, with the game on the line, you deserve to lose; plain and simple. And that’s exactly what happened on Tuesday night when Dougie McBuckets drilled an open 3-pointer with 2.0 seconds remaining as No. 20 Creighton survived a late-game comeback from St. John’s with a 63-60 win.

St. John’s did everything to come back from an 18-point deficit to tie the game with 1:38 remaining when JaKarr Sampson collected a loose ball for a layup. After a brief Creighton lead, Rysheed Johnson connected on a pair of free throws to tie it at 60-all.

McDermott scored 39 points, off 15-of-26 shooting to go along with six rebounds and two assists.

In the first half, McDermott went for 20, and in the opening moments of the second half, he was outscoring the entire St. John’s team. The Red Storm defense was designed to take Creighton’s other 3-point shooters out of the equation.

McDermott: 39
Rest of Creighton: 24

McDermott went off for a season-high 39 points, and St. John’s -- despite digging itself in an 18-point hole -- still almost pulled out a big conference road victory. If that was the Red Storm’s plan -- let Dougie get his, and shut down the rest of the team -- it somewhat worked. But if that truly is the game plan, you better have him marked with seconds to go before he lines up an open 3-pointer for the win.

The favorite for the player of the year honors has led Creighton to 13 wins in its last 14 games. The Bluejays are atop the Big East standings with nine days off before hosting DePaul. St. John’s has Marquette at home on Saturday afternoon.

Follow @terrence_payne