Marcus Zegarowski scored 18 points, Damien Jefferson and Mitch Ballock both added 17 as Creighton rode a hot shooting effort and a strong first half to rout Cal Poly 86-70 on Friday night in a Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational campus game at Omaha, Neb.
Ty-Shon Alexander put up 13 points and Christian Bishop had 10 as all five starters finished in double figures for the Bluejays (3-1).
The Mustangs (1-4) were led by freshman forward Kyle Colvin's career-high 18 points, and he also match his high with seven rebounds. Junior Ballard had 17, and Malek Harwell finished with 16.
Creighton shot 51.8 percent (29-for-56) from the field, including 9-for-22 on 3-point attempts (40.9 percent). The Mustangs also shot the ball well (28-for-54, 51.9 percent) but committed 18 turnovers and attempted just 10 free throws to the Bluejays' 23.
Cal Poly never led but managed out win the rebounding battle 32-25 while hitting 9 of 19 shots from 3-point range (47.4 percent).
The Bluejays wore out the Mustangs with their depth and free-throw shooting (19-for-23, 82.6 percent).
Zegarowski capped a 7-0 run with a layup to give the Bluejays a 72-48 lead with 11:17 left in regulation. Two minutes later, Zegarowski put the game out of reach with a 3-pointer to increase the advantage to 75-54.
In the second meeting between the teams, the other occurring in 1956, the Bluejays quickly grabbed control of the game to cruise to their third home win this season.
Creighton came out sizzling, connecting on 20 of its 30 first-half shots to take a 51-38 lead into the break. The Bluejays made 7 of 10 from long distance in the first half and tallied 14 assists, building a 22-point advantage before the Mustangs chipped away behind their own solid shooting.
Cal Poly made six treys and ended the half on an 11-5 run to get back into the game.
--Field Level Media
Cal Poly SLO | Creighton | |
Kyle Colvin 18 | Scoring | Marcus Zegarowski 18 |
Keith Smith 4 | Assists | Marcus Zegarowski 6 |
Kyle Colvin 7 | Rebounds | Damien Jefferson 8 |
Junior Ballard 1 | Free Throws Made | Ty-Shon Alexander 7 |
Colby Rogers 2 | Steals | Mitch Ballock 4 |
N/A | Blocks | Christian Bishop 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Cal Poly SLO | 70 | 51.9 | 9-19 | 5-10 | 12 | 27 | 0 | 4 | 18 |
Creighton | 86 | 51.8 | 9-22 | 19-23 | 16 | 25 | 1 | 11 | 9 |