Marcus Zegarowski, Christian Bishop and Denzel Mahoney each netted 13 points as No. 13 Creighton overcame a slow start to roll to a fourth straight win, 77-53 over DePaul on Wednesday night in Omaha, Neb.
Playing their first game since Feb. 13, the Bluejays (17-5, 13-4 Big East) shot 49.1 percent and knocked down 11 3-pointers to improve to 7-1 since dropping two straight against Butler and Providence on Jan. 16 and Jan. 20.
Creighton also scored 28 points in the paint to beat DePaul (4-11, 2-11) for the 14th straight time.
Charlie Moore and Romeo Weems each had nine points for the Blue Demons, who led for a good portion of the first half but went cold from the field and shot 35.5 percent for the game. DePaul was coming off an 88-83 win at St. John's over the weekend that snapped its five-game losing streak.
Creighton showed some rust from its layoff by missing seven of its first nine shots. DePaul, meanwhile, used consecutive 3-pointers from Weems, Moore and Ray Salnave to turn a 3-2 deficit into an 11-3 lead.
The Blue Demons led for nearly 10 1/2 minutes of the first half before the Bluejays found their form.
A pair of treys from Zegarowski highlighted a 10-0 run that put the hosts up 23-18. That spurt was part of a decisive 21-3 stretch for Creighton, which made 8 of 10 field-goal attempts at one point and held DePaul scoreless for nearly five minutes to build a lead of 34-21.
DePaul shot 28.1 percent in the first half and missed seven of its final eight shots to trail by 11 at the break.
Zegarowski and Mahoney, who together went 6 of 14 from 3-point range for the game, combined for six points as Creighton scored 11 of the first 13 out of halftime to go up by 20. The Bluejays eventually led by as many as 30.
The Blue Demons committed 16 turnovers on the night.
--Field Level Media
DePaul | Creighton | |
Charlie Moore 9 | Scoring | Christian Bishop 13 |
Charlie Moore 3 | Assists | Marcus Zegarowski 4 |
Darious Hall 7 | Rebounds | Ryan Kalkbrenner 7 |
David Jones 1 | Free Throws Made | Christian Bishop 3 |
Charlie Moore 3 | Steals | Denzel Mahoney 2 |
Oscar Lopez Jr. 2 | Blocks | Ryan Kalkbrenner 2 |