Five Creighton Bluejays scored in double figures as they defeated Wayne State 93-46 in a men's college basketball exhibition game played before a crowd of 15,128 Friday at CenturyLink Center in Omaha.
Creighton scored the first 13 points of the game while holding Wayne State scoreless until almost six minutes into the contest with tenacious defense against the Wildcats. A Tony Bonner layup at the 14:02 mark was Wayne State's first basket of the game after starting 0-for-6 from the field.
The Wildcats then settled into the flow of the game and started making shots as Luke TerHark and Jordan Cornelius hit 3-pointers, allowing Wayne State to pull within eight at 20-12 at the 10:55 mark of the first half.
Creighton went on a 10-0 run over the next 1:52 to take a 30-12 lead and scored 16 consecutive points before the Wildcats ended the scoreless drought.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from redshirt freshman Ben Hoskins snapped a 3:52 stretch without a point for the Wildcats, making the score 38-18. The Bluejays closed the first half with a 13-2 run over the final 5:54 to take a 51-20 lead at intermission.
Wayne State battled the Bluejays close for the first segment of the second half as Creighton held a 16-14 scoring advantage at the second media timeout of the half. Junior guard Brian Goodwin scored eight straight points for the Wildcats on a trio of free throws, a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws to make the score 63-32 at the 15:08 mark.
Freshman Joshua Lane and Cornelius hit back-to-back 3-pointers for Wayne State to make the score 75-40, but Wayne State was held scoreless for the next 5:32 until Bonner put in a basket on an offensive rebound for the Wildcats as Creighton went on to finish with the 93-46 win.
Cornelius led Wayne State in scoring with 13 points followed by Goodwin and Bonner with eight points each.
Wayne State finished the game making 14-of-51 shots for 27.5 percent, going 8-for-29 behind the 3-point line and 10-of-19 (52.6 percent) at the free throw line.
Marcus Foster led five Creighton players in double figures with 13 points. Khyri Thomas, Martin Krampelj and Maurice Watson Jr. each produced 11 points followed by Ronnie Harrell Jr. with 10.
The Bluejays made 35-of-65 shots from the field for 53.8 percent, goiong 8-of-21 from the 3-point line and 15-for-22 (68.2 percent) at the charity stripe.
Creighton held a commanding 52-23 advantage in rebounding on the Wildcats thanks to eight boards from Harrell Jr. while Kendall Jacks, JJ Zumbrennen and Bonner each hauled in four rebounds for the Wildcats.
Wayne State had just 11 turnovers in the game compared to eight on Creighton.
This was the lone exhibition game for the Bluejays while Wayne State is now 1-1 in exhibition games before opening the regular season next Friday, Nov. 11 at Missouri Western.
