A terrifying ordeal in war torn Ukraine is over for former IU basketball player Maurice Creek.
“It took me 12 hours but finally out of Ukraine,” Creek posted on his Twitter page at about 6:10 p.m. Eastern on Monday, U.S. time.
Earlier on Monday, the 31 year-old reported he was traveling out of the country. Creek was stranded in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, while playing for Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine broke out last week.
“I just want to say this is probably the scariest situation I’ve been in,” Creek told The Daily Hoosier on Friday afternoon. “I can’t even get a ride to the border right now. They are shooting now, and I had to get in a bomb shelter. It’s just bad right now.”
The Maryland product had initially planned to leave Ukraine on Saturday but was delayed due to air raid sirens sounding in the area, according to a tweet.
“Every day I’m on the phone with my agent, trying to get out of here as soon as possible,” Creek told Fox News on Sunday. “Hopefully, I can get to one of these borders and get out of here.”
In an interview with BasketballNews.com on Sunday, Creek claimed since signing in January with MBC Mykolaiv, a Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague team, the team did not take the threat of the Russian invasion seriously, and instead thought he was trying to get out of his contract rather than flee a possible war zone.
Creek was with Indiana from 2009 to 2013. He played in 54 games over that span while dealing with multiple serious injuries. He had three major surgeries over the span of 22 months. He went on to play the 2013-14 season at George Washington.
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