NEWARK, N.J. -- There was an abundance of NBA scouts at the Prudential Center on Wednesday, primarily to see Creighton freshman center Justin Patton, who began the day third in the nation in field goal percentage.

They left with more of an impression of Seton Hall's Khadeen Carrington, who poured in a career-high 41 points in the Pirates' 87-81 win over No. 20 Creighton. It was the most points scored in a Big East conference game this season and tied for the eighth highest in Seton Hall history.

Carrington was 10 of 15 from the floor and 18 of 22 from the line for Seton Hall (16-9, 6-7 Big East). He also dished out seven assists and collected five rebounds. He committed only one turnover in 38 minutes.

Carrington scored the Pirates' 10 final points of the game.

"It hasn't settled in yet," Carrington said. "It should by tomorrow when I wake up and my phone is going off."

Angel Delgado scored 17 points and grabbed 17 rebounds for his 20th double-double this season.

The Pirates were 28 of 39 from the line, including 17 of 23 in the second half.

"We're probably in the top 90th percentile in the country of teams that don't foul, and tonight we fouled 25 times," noted Creighton coach Doug McDermott. "Obviously when you go on the road and get outscored by 18 on the free-throw line, you're not going to win much.

"Kevin (Seton Hall coach Willard) had his guys ready to go. We did a good job on the glass in the first half and as a result we were able to hang in there. We did not do a good job in the second half, especially late in the game."

Marcus Foster led Creighton (21-5, 8-5) with 23 points and Patton added 15 points.

Creighton went almost four minutes without a basket before Toby Hegner nailed a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left in the game to pull the Bluejays to within 81-79.

Carrington's runner with 41 seconds remaining had extended the Seton Hall lead to 79-76. His big night kept Seton Hall's dreams of an NCAA Tournament bid alive. The Pirates had dropped six of their last nine games, including a 78-70 loss to St. John's when Carrington scored only 14 points and was 5 of 16 from the floor.

"I was mad about the loss but I didn't let it stick with me," Carrington admitted. "At this point in the season you have to bounce back from losses like those.

"I told the guys before the game that every little thing we need to do that we didn't do, we have to do it now. It means boxing out, diving on the floor. I am one of the leaders and that means I have to start it off."

A ferocious offensive rebounding sequence by Delgado gave the Pirates a 76-74 edge with 2:37 left. He sank one of two free throws a minute later to move the lead to 77-74.

Carrington's layup in traffic tied it at 67-67 at the 6:28 mark. On the Pirates' next possession, he sank two free throws for a 69-67 Seton Hall lead.

An alley-oop dunk from Patton capped an 11-4 burst to start the second half for Creighton, giving it a 51-45 cushion, but Seton Hall stormed back with an 8-0 run to retake the lead at 54-53 on a 3-pointer from Myles Powell with 13:25 to play.

Carrington led the Pirates with 19 points in the first half. He was 5 of 7 from the floor.

Seton Hall took its biggest lead of the half, 38-31, on a 3-pointer from Carrington with 2:44 until the break, but the Bluejays whittled it down to 41-40 thanks to a 9-2 run to close the half.

Creighton led 14-8 before the Pirates went on a 13-5 surge to move ahead 21-19 on Carrington's jumper with 8:39 left in the half. The Bluejays made just one of their 10 shots.

NOTES: Khadeen Carrington leaped three spots on Seton Hall's all-time scoring list to No. 30. He now has 1,193 points. ... Seton Hall's Angel Delgado went over the 1,000-career point barrier. He is tied with Daryl Walker for 39th place with 1,022 points. ... The 39 free throw attempts by Seton Hall were the most Creighton allowed since Massachusetts took 40 on Nov. 25, 2015. ... The Pirates out-rebounded the Bluejays 42-25. ... Kansas State transfer Marcus Foster leads Creighton in scoring and is averaging the most points by a Bluejay newcomer since Cyril Baptiste in 1969-70. ... Seton Hall plays its next two games at home against No. 2 Villanova on Saturday and Xavier on Feb. 22.