No. 17 Creighton pulls away early in 2nd half and beats DePaul a 20th straight time, 85-62
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Trey Alexander scored 23 points and Ryan Kalkbrenner had 22 to lead No. 17 Creighton past DePaul 85-62 on Saturday night.
Steven Ashworth matched his season highs with 17 points and five 3-pointers and Baylor Scheierman had 16 points and 10 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season.
Creighton (16-5, 7-3 Big East) has won 20 straight against DePaul, the longest streak against a conference opponent in the six major basketball leagues, and 25 of 26. The last 13 in Omaha have been decided by double digits.
Elijah Fisher had 12 points to lead DePaul (3-18, 0-9). The Blue Demons lost their 18th straight road game, and their conference losing streak reached 10.
The Blue Demons, playing their first road game under interim coach Matt Brady, kept it close early with Jalen Terry and Jeremiah Oden providing most of the offense and Churchill Abass dunking over the 7-foot-1 Kalkbrenner to give DePaul a brief lead.
The Bluejays went ahead for good with nine minutes left in the first half but a run of careless turnovers and 1-for-7 shooting to end the half kept them from pulling away until early in the second.
Alexander's 3-pointer, jumper and 3-point play came during a 14-2 spurt that stretched Creighton's lead to double digits. Another 14-2 run pushed it to 68-45 with 11 minutes left.
The Bluejays were playing their 14th annual Pink Out Game, which raises money for cancer research.
BIG PICTURE
DePaul: The Blue Demons have come out with more energy in the two games since Tony Stubblefield was fired. They were competitive in an 86-73 loss to No. 14 Marquette on Wednesday, and they were within 40-37 at halftime Saturday before Creighton took over. They're still looking for their first Big East road win since February 2022.
Creighton: The Bluejays, who won 84-58 at DePaul on Jan. 9, completed the season sweep and went 7-1 in January. They've reached the halfway point of Big East play 7-3 for the third time in four seasons.
UP NEXT
DePaul: Hosts Seton Hall on Tuesday night.
Creighton: Hosts Butler on Friday night.