Mitch Ballock's 19 points led five players in double figures Wednesday night as Creighton pulled away in the first 10 minutes of the second half to earn an 83-68 Big East win over DePaul at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.
Reserve Denzel Mahoney and Damien Jefferson each added 14 for the Bluejays (15-5, 4-3), while Ty-Shon Alexander scored 12 points. Christian Bishop chipped in 11 as Creighton hit 56.5 percent of its field goals in the second half, including 5 of 11 from the 3-point line.
Paul Reed led the Blue Demons (13-6, 1-5) with game-high totals of 22 points and 12 rebounds. Charlie Moore scored 13 points but made just 3 of 15 shots from the field. Romeo Weems and Jalen Coleman-Lands each added 11.
Leading 50-43 with 15:02 left in the game after Reed sank two foul shots, the Bluejays put DePaul away with a 14-4 run that lasted less than four minutes. Shareef Mitchell capped it with a driving layup for a 64-47 advantage with 11:24 remaining.
The margin never dipped below 13 after that, cresting at 22 when Ballock beat the shot clock with a 3-pointer for a 73-51 cushion at the 6:46 mark.
Neither team got off to a fast start. At the first TV timeout, more than 5 1/2 minutes into the game, Creighton nursed a 7-6 edge. Neither team established any kind of offensive rhythm until about the halfway point of the first half.
That's when the Bluejays kicked into gear with eight points in little more than two minutes, grabbing a 24-17 lead with 8:05 left after Jefferson converted a transition layup. The margin reached nine on a Ballock 3-pointer with 4:26 remaining in the half.
From there, however, DePaul closed the half on a run. It shaved six points off its deficit, going into the locker room down just 37-34 after Moore canned two foul shots with 24 seconds on the clock. Moore and Reed combined for 21 first-half points for the Blue Demons.
--Field Level Media
