Thomas' 18 Points Lead No. 16 Creighton Over DePaul, 83-66
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Khyri Thomas scored 18 points, Marcus Foster added 15 and Justin Patton had 14 to lead No. 16 Creighton to an 83-66 victory over DePaul on Saturday.
The Bluejays (19-3, 6-3 Big East) won for the first time in three games since losing star point guard Maurice Watson Jr. to a season-ending knee injury.
Billy Garrett Jr. scored 18 points and Brandon Cyrus had 12 for the Blue Demons (8-13, 1-7).
The Blue Demons, playing only their second game in 12-day span, started 1 for 14 from the field. Starters Eli Cain, Tre'Darius McCallum and Garrett each committed three fouls in the first half.
Creighton led by 21 in the first half, but the Blue Demons got to 44-29 at half and were within 46-37 on a Garrett 3-pointer early in the second half.
The Bluejays finally put away the Blue Demons with three dunks in two minutes. Thomas passed to Patton on back-to-back possessions for a dunk and an easy layup, Foster dunked off Tyler Clement's pass and Thomas got a jam of his own to make it 75-58 with 5 minutes left.
Thomas also led the Bluejays with seven rebounds and six assists.
Freshman Davion Mintz, making his first start at point guard, had four points, two assists and two turnovers in 14 minutes. Clement, a walk-on, played 23 minutes as Mintz's backup and finished with three points, five assists and one turnover.
Creighton has won 10 of its last 11 meetings with DePaul, including eight of nine since joining the Big East in 2013. Each of the last nine meetings has been decided by 10 or more points.
BIG PICTURE
DePaul: The Blue Demons couldn't overcome the big hole they dug for themselves and have lost four straight and remain winless on the road.
Creighton: After scoring just 50 points in a loss at Georgetown on Wednesday, the Bluejays rediscovered some offensive flow, but questions linger over who is going to take command of the point guard spot.
UP NEXT
DePaul hosts Georgetown on Tuesday in meeting of the teams at the bottom of the Big East.
Creighton visits Butler on Tuesday. The Bluejays beat the Bulldogs at home 75-64 on Jan. 11.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.