San Diego State produced a 20-3 run late in the first half and handily defeated Creighton 83-52 on Thursday night in the semifinals of the Continental Tires Las Vegas Invitational.

The Aztecs (7-0) advance to meet Iowa on Friday in the tournament's championship game. The Bluejays (4-2) will oppose No. 12 Texas Tech in the third-place game.

San Diego State hammered Creighton with several big runs, but the most important and decisive one was the burst that ended the first half.

The Aztecs trailed 22-20 with seven minutes left before halftime. They then clamped down on defense, allowing only three points for the remainder of the half. Five different Aztec players scored a combined 20 points in that span, giving San Diego State a 40-25 lead at the intermission.

Creighton trimmed three points off its 15-point halftime deficit and trailed 43-31 with just over 16 minutes to go. San Diego State then uncorked a 13-2 run for a 56-33 lead with 13 minutes left. Four different Aztecs scored in that sequence, which effectively ended the competitive phase of the contest. San Diego State increased its lead in the final minutes.

Malachi Flynn led the Aztecs with 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-6 success on 3-point attempts, but he had plenty of help.

Matt Mitchell scored 16 off the San Diego State bench. Yanni Wetzell added 15, and Jordan Schakel chipped in with 13 points.

The Aztecs hit 55.8 percent of their field-goal attempts (29 of 52) and 61 percent of from beyond the 3-point arc (11 of 18). Eight different San Diego State players registered an assist. The Aztecs created 20 assists on their 29 makes.

Mitch Ballock led Creighton with 12 points, and Shereef Mitchell had 10. The Bluejays hit 38.5 percent of their field-goal tries (20 of 52) and were just 4 of 23 from 3-point range (17.4 percent).

--Field Level Media