Longwood Lancers at Creighton Bluejays

Creighton's 113-58 win over Lancers biggest margin since '02

Fans win free pizza when the 10th-ranked Bluejays score 75 points. That was taken care of less than five minutes into the second half against Longwood.

By the end of a 113-58 victory, Creighton had set the CenturyLink Center record for points and posted their most lopsided victory since beating Texas-Arlington by 56 in November 2002.

Players hungry for minutes were satisfied, too. All 13 Creighton players who suited up scored, and all but one got at least 10 minutes.

Marcus Foster and Khyri Thomas led the way with 16 points apiece, and reserve Martin Krampelj had 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots.

"Obviously I liked the way we played tonight. Our efficiency offensively once again was off the charts," coach Greg McDermott said.

The Bluejays shot 58.6 percent, made 12 of 22 3-pointers and dunked 10 times against their overmatched opponent from the Big South Conference.

Leading 62-25 at the break, the Bluejays scored their most points in a half in McDermott's seven seasons.

"What a prolific scoring basketball team," Longwood coach Jayson Gee said. "Dominant in transition. Tremendous depth and something we were not prepared to combat tonight, for sure."

Maurice Watson Jr. had 10 points and 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. Toby Hegner and Isaiah Zierden also had 10 points apiece.

Khris Lane and JaShaun Smith scored 12 points apiece for the Lancers (2-5), who are missing three players because of injuries.

Creighton's two-day turnaround from a 77-62 win at in-state rival Nebraska was no issue.

"There's risk of a little hangover from that," McDermott said, "and, fortunately, our guys are mature enough that that didn't happen."

The Bluejays made 5 of their first six 3s, 10 of their first 13 shots overall and led by 20 points 12 minutes into the game.

The crowd's interest waned as the margin grew wider in the second half. The last big roars came when world junior welterweight boxing champion Terence "Bud" Crawford was shown on the video board and when the score of the Creighton volleyball team's NCAA regional match against Michigan was announced.

Creighton is among eight remaining unbeaten teams in Division I and is the first to win 10 games. The Bluejays are off to their best start since the 2003-04 team opened 12-0.

"We try not to focus on everything that's said in the media, although it's great and we're very honored to be mentioned and talked about so highly," Zierden said. "We know that we have a long ways to go to be where we want to be and we have to try to stay focused and get a little bit better."

THE BIG PICTURE

Longwood: The Virginia-based Lancers got a nice paycheck for coming halfway across the country to play their first Top 25 opponent in four years.

Creighton: This one turned into a glorified scrimmage for the Bluejays. Everybody who suited up got to play, and no one got hurt. Seems like a win-win. Now they take off a week for final exams.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

With wins by 15 points over Nebraska and 55 points over Longwood, Creighton won't drop from No. 10 in the Top 25 come Monday.

HE SAID IT

UP NEXT

Longwood visits George Mason on Monday.

Creighton hosts Oral Roberts on Dec. 17.

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More AP college basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25

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