Second Half Surge Powers Creighton Men Past North Dakota State

Photo Credit: Creighton Athletics/Justin Kreutzian

OMAHA, Neb. -- Powered by 26-5 run coming out of the locker room turned a contested battle into a blowout for the eighth ranked Creighton Men's Basketball team as the Bluejays defeated North Dakota State 89-60 on Saturday, November 11. The win pushed the Bluejays to 2-0, while the Bison fell to 2-1 overall.

The Bison held Creighton in check in early, romping out to an 11-6 lead with 14:59 remaining. Guard Thomas Damari-Wheeler led the charge with six of his 15 points in the opening five minutes. Creighton responded with seven straight points from Baylor Scheierman, vaulting the Bluejays into the lead at 13-11 (13:21).

Leading 21-20 with seven minutes remaining in the half, the Bluejays hit the afterburners as Creighton connected on its final eight shots, including
four from long range to bounced out to a 41-31 lead at halftime.

Creighton's second half surge centered around the Bluejays' big man Ryan Kalkbrenner, who scored 11 of Creighton's first 16 points in the second stanza. The Bluejays scored the first 16 points of the frame to push their lead to 57-31 (15:59). After a pair of buckets by the Bison, Creighton's run continued with another 10-0 surge including seven from Trey Alexander to give Creighton its largest lead at 67-36 (13:12).

Alexander led Creighton with 21 points and seven rebounds, while Scheierman and Kalkbrenner finished with 17 and 13 points respectively. North Dakota State got a team-high 15 points from Damari-Wheeler.

After opening the game 7-of-17 from the field (41.2%), the Bluejays hit 21 of their next 25 shots (84.0%) and closed the game 33-of-54 (61.1%). The Bison, meanwhile, started 6-of-10 (60%) and closed the game 25-of-60 (41.7%)

The Bluejays return to the floor on Tuesday, November 14th in a highly anticipated battle with Iowa at 9:00 p.m. in the CHI Health Center Omaha