Local Teams

Damien Jefferson scored 16 of his season-high 19 points in the first half to help No. 7 Creighton roll to its fifth straight victory, 89-53 over visiting Seton Hall in a Big East matchup on Wednesday night in Omaha, Neb.

Jefferson went 7-of-9 from the field and scored nine straight points at one point during the first half for the Bluejays (9-2, 5-1 Big East), who hit their first seven shots of the game and used a 13-0 run within the first five minutes to essentially take control of the contest.

Denzel Mahoney scored 14 for Creighton, which shot a blistering 59.6 percent overall and 13-of-24 from 3-point range to remain unbeaten since opening league play with an 89-84 home loss to Marquette.

Sandro Mamukelashvili had 14 points on just 5-of-12 shooting for Seton Hall (8-5, 5-2), which had won three in a row and seven of the previous eight games. However, the Pirates missed six of their first seven shots and finished shooting 33.3 percent during their lowest-scoring game of the season.

With the game tied at 4-4, Creighton started its run of 13 consecutive points. Marcus Zegarowski (11 points) bookended the run with 3-pointers while Jefferson added a pair of buckets and Mahoney added another 3-pointer.

Up 11 at the break, Creighton used a 7-2 spurt, highlighted by another Mahoney 3-pointer, to open the second half and build a 44-28 advantage that only got bigger from there.

The Bluejays also used a 15-0 run later in the second half to build their lead up to 77-42 with under 5 minutes to play. Creighton's largest lead, 89-47, came with 2:31 left.

Seton Hall suffered a blow early when key reserve Bryce Aiken suffered what appeared to be an ankle injury a little less than five minutes into the contest.

--Field Level Media