- Mo Creek, a former D-I
basketball player, was playing professionally inUkraine whenRussia invaded. - For three days, Creek went in and out of a bomb shelter, which was dark, cold, and had no cell service.
One of the few things that gave Maurice "Mo" Creek comfort as he sat in a bomb shelter in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, was his assistant coach's dog, Pockets.
So named for her desire to get into people's pockets, the dog was one of two that belonged to Terry Murphy, an assistant coach for MBC Mykolaiv. The pup was friendly and outgoing, even as bomb sirens rang out in the Ukrainian city.
"Those dogs kept me comfortable when I was in the bomb shelter," Creek told Insider in an interview. Now, safely home in Maryland and flanked by his parents, Creek recalled the "terrifying" five days he spent in Ukraine between Russia's invasion and his safe escape to neighboring Moldova.
A former
Despite warnings in mid-February from the US encouraging American citizens to leave Ukraine, Creek said members of the team had downplayed the threat of a Russian invasion. Creek had wanted to leave the country earlier, but he said his team was late to pay him and wouldn't let him out of his contract. He told ESPN's Aishwarya Kumar that without the money, he couldn't afford a plane ticket out.
Once the invasion began, the sounds of explosions and gun shots could be heard ringing out in the distance. Murphy and Creek developed a system for when bomb sirens went off: Murphy would pick Creek up from his apartment, just down the street from the arena where he played, and take him to the bomb shelter, located underneath an apartment complex.
The scene was "crazy," Creek said.
Several families gathered in the shelter, which offered no cell service. It was dusty and cold, Creek said. Only some rooms had light, and at night the city went totally dark under martial law. Creek was not sure if there was a bathroom down there — he never had to use it — or electricity. He brought a power bank to charge his phone. He and Murphy, along with Murphy's wife, mother, and dogs, brought their own chairs. Others slept on wooden palettes.
This went on for three days, and Creek got to know some of the other families also gathering in the shelter. Though most of them couldn't speak English, Murphy, an American, had lived in Ukraine for 23 years and would translate.
Creek had lost his appetite during this time, forcing himself to eat small, quick meals. He stayed awake at night, unable to sleep out of fear that an enemy might attack in the darkness. He caught up on sleep during the daytime.
Before one trip to the shelter, Creek sent a text message to his mom telling her he loved her. The two were otherwise unable to communicate when he was in the shelter because he didn't have service.
Creek said his longest stay in the shelter lasted five or six hours before Murphy, an ex-Marine, determined it was safe to leave.
"[Murphy] would drive me back to apartment and he'd tell me, 'Hey, look, if anything happens or if I hear that siren again, just be on guard, be ready. I'm coming to get you again and get back in the bomb shelter.'"
A "frightening," surreal drive to the Moldova border
After several failed plans to get out of Ukraine, another assistant coach secured a private driver to take Creek, that coach's wife and sister to the Moldova border, 130 miles west of Mykolaiv, a coastal town on the Black Sea near the Crimean peninsula.
Creek said there was a heavy atmosphere in the car, as the coach's wife and sister were visibly distraught about leaving the coach behind.
As Creek passed the arena, he thought about how just weeks before he had been playing in front of happy, cheering fans. He passed the restaurant where he frequently ate and found comfort in a foreign country.
The drive to the border, Creek said, "was frightening."
"Sweating out every piece of clothing" on his body, he saw things he had never imagined.
They drove through a "hot zone," Creek said, where bombing had happened days before. They crossed through multiple checkpoints, as Creek handed his passport to armed guards carrying "guns you ain't never see before." Creek prayed, hoping they wouldn't stop him or tell him to turn around.
"I was just praying," Creek said. "I prayed in that car so many times it doesn't make no sense."
There were barricades and piles of sandbags. Creek saw tanks and abandoned vehicles and scatters of clothing left behind.
Traffic often stopped, and Creek would panic.
"If Russia wanted to do damage, all they had to do was drop a bomb right there, honestly," Creek said. "And they would've gotten all of us. We had so many cars that were stopped."
Creek and his companions eventually made it to the Moldovan border where another journey was about to begin — nine hours of waiting in the cold. Creek had two bags with him, plus a bag on his back — carrying his PlayStation. Tea and coffee were available, but warm drinks didn't help the situation much.
"To be in the cold, it felt like forever," Creek said, adding: "It felt like, okay, [the line is] moving. Oh man, we gonna be stuck here for an hour. It's moving again up, it's stuck for another hour."
Still, Creek eventually crossed the border into safety.
Once in Moldova, Creek got a cab to Isai, then got another ride to Bucharest, Romania, where a friend agreed to house him, according to ESPN. He caught a flight to Dulles International Airport on Thursday where had a tearful reunion with his parents.
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"I was the happiest man on that plane," Creek said.
Creek said he has kept in touch with his former teammates and coaches through an app. Some have responded and said they are safe, but he hasn't heard from everyone.
"I just want to pray for them every day and write to them every day and make sure that they're okay," Creek said.