DePaul Blue Demons vs Creighton Bluejays Match Player Stats On Mar 09, 2019

Sophomore Mitch Ballock swished a school-record 11 3-pointers en route to a career-high 39 points as Creighton defeated DePaul 91-78 to close the Big East regular season on Saturday night in Omaha, Neb.

The Bluejays (18-13, 9-9) earned their fifth straight victory and a regular season sweep of the Blue Demons. Creighton will be the No. 5 seed in next week's Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York City, meeting Xavier in a quarterfinal on Thursday.

Losers of five of its last seven, DePaul (15-14, 7-11) is the tournament's No. 10 seed and will face St. John's in first-round play on Wednesday.

Creighton scored the game's first nine points as part of a 16-2 run in the opening 7:45. Ballock helped set the tone with his long-range marksmanship, drilling all five of his 3-point attempts en route to 17 first half-points.

For the game, Ballock missed just once from long range in the game while shooting 12 of 14 from the field and 4 of 5 at the free-throw line.

Martin Krampelj notched a double-double for the Bluejays, scoring 23 points while snagging 10 rebounds. Marcus Zegarowski dished 10 assists and scored eight points.

Max Strus and Eli Cain scored 19 points apiece to pace the Blue Demons. Devin Gage (14 points) and Jaylen Butz (11) also finished in double figures, while Paul Reed snagged 12 rebounds.

The Blue Demons ultimately withstood Creighton's early hot streak, recovering from a 1-for-9 start from the field to shoot 44 percent in the first half. Creighton countered with 53.6 percent shooting, relying on a steady hand to take a 41-34 lead into the break.

DePaul edged to within four points on a Strus trey at the 15:33 mark of the second half, and was within the same margin when Strus completed a four-point play with 12:53 to go.

Ballock answered with treys on both occasions. Creighton led by as many as 15 in the closing minutes.

--Field Level Media