OMAHA, Neb. -- Marcus Foster scored a season-high 32 points as No. 25 Creighton beat Texas-Arlington 90-81 on Monday.

Foster finished three shy of his career high to help the Bluejays (9-2) fight off a handful of comeback attempts. The guard hit 12 of 20 shots and made four 3-pointers as Creighton shot 44.9 percent, including 40.6 percent (13 of 32) from 3-point range.

Junior guard Kyhri Thomas added 16 points, and two-time Big East freshman of the week Mitch Ballock finished with 14.

With a dozen NBA scouts in CenturyLink Center as part of the announced crowd of 15,564, Foster had one of the best all-around performances of his career. The Wichita Falls, Texas native was 12-of-20 from the field, including 4-of-8 from 3-point range, and had six rebounds, four assists in two steals while leading an intense defensive effort by the Bluejays.

"It was a main focus for myself and also to get my teammates going," Foster said. "(The coaches) always talk to me about playing with a lot of energy because I am one of the leaders. If I'm not high energy like I was tonight, my teammates are following. I have to be able to do that every single night."

Creighton's defense did a good job keeping Kevin Hervey, UTA's leading scorer, in check through most of the game. The 6-foot-9 senior forward, the reigning Sun Belt Conference player or the year, finished with 24 points, one over his season average. He also grabbed 11 rebounds.

Hervey helped spark UTA's second half rallies as he scored 15 points in the final 20 minutes. Kaelon Wilson added 15 points and 7-foot junior center Johnny Hamilton finished with 11 points for the Mavericks (8-4).

After leading by as many as 25 points in the first half, Creighton saw the margin cut to eight with 1:29 remaining on a jumper by Hamilton. The Bluejays made five free throws the rest of the game, and the Mavericks never got closer than eight.

Creighton jumped to an 11-4 lead in the first three minutes before the Mavericks got on a roll. Outscoring the Bluejays 9-0 in a stretch of 2:20, Texas-Arlington grabbed its lone lead of the game at 13-11.

The Bluejays responded with a 15-3 run that put them ahead 26-16. The closest UTA got the rest of the half was eight points. Foster led the Creighton offense with 22 points as the home team established a 52-32 lead going into the locker room.

"We tried to push it and get the ball down the court before they got set," Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. "We've seen enough zone in reality that, for the most part, our numbers are really good against the zone all year, so it's not something we fear."

That changed less than eight minutes into the second half as the Mavericks whittled Creighton's lead to 61-52 on a layup by Mairega Clarke with 12:19 remaining the game.

"They had four 3's to start the second half," McDermott said. "I was fully prepared for them to have a run in them. They didn't have one in the first half, and they've had several runs in all the games I've watched them play against really good competition. You knew one was coming."

Texas-Arlington's defense kept close tabs on Foster early in the second half, as the senior transfer from Kansas State didn't score his first field goal until nearly 10 minutes after halftime.

"I was very pleased with the way we played in the second half," Mavericks coach Scott Cross said. "We could easily have rolled over and quit. They pretty much broke our will in the first half. I'm glad our guys kept their fight and made it a close ballgame at the end."

NOTES: Creighton cracked the AP Top 25 for the second time this season. The Bluejays are one of 11 teams with multiple AP Top 25 victories this season. ... Texas-Arlington wasn't able to add another big name to its resume of recent wins over big-name college hoops teams, including BYU twice, Texas, Saint Mary's, Ohio State and Memphis.