Trailing by 10 points four minutes into the second half, Creighton reeled off 17 consecutive points to rally for a 60-47 Big East victory over DePaul on Saturday in Omaha, Neb.

Ryan Kalkbrenner stacked up 18 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high six blocks for Creighton (12-5, 4-2 Big East), which defeated DePaul for the 15th time in a row. Trey Alexander contributed 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench and Ryan Hawkins added 11 points.

DePaul (10-8, 1-7), which played without leading scorer Javon Freeman-Liberty (21.1 points per game) for the second game in a row due to a groin injury, received 10 points and six rebounds from Jalen Terry.

The Blue Demons didn't take their first lead until Brandon Johnson hit a jumper to make it 17-15 with 10:16 left in the first half. Though Creighton responded with Ryan Nembhard's nifty baseline drive and reverse layup to tie, the Blue Demons produced the next 9 points as they held the Bluejays scoreless for 7 minutes, 23 seconds.

Creighton interim head coach Alan Huss, subbing for Greg McDermott while he stays in COVID-19 health and safety protocols, finally called a timeout with 4:14 left to slow DePaul's momentum.

The Blue Demons carried a 32-23 lead into the break as they limited Creighton to 28.1 percent shooting, which included just 2 of 14 from 3-point range. DePaul also swatted six attempts inside the arc.

DePaul pushed its lead to 38-28 when center Nick Ongenda beat everyone down the floor in transition, accepted a pass from David Jones and dunking it with 15:46 to play.

That's when Creighton decided to slap a three-quarters-court trap on DePaul, which sparked a 17-0 run as the Blue Demons went eight minutes, 14 seconds without a point. The Bluejays forced 10 consecutive misses (including four blocked shots) and six turnovers during that run as they pushed their lead all the way to 45-38 before Johnson ended DePaul's drought with a twisting layup with 7:32 left.

The Blue Demons never got closer than seven the rest of the way as they finished with 15 points, 13 fouls and 11 turnovers in the second half.

--Field Level Media