Layden Blocker piled up 16 points, six assists and five steals to pace DePaul to a 93-62 nonconference victory over Gardner-Webb on Tuesday night in Chicago.
CJ Gunn contributed a game-high 18 points, Kaleb Banks added 16 and 7-foot-2 freshman Fabian Flores scored a season-high 11 in his first start as the Blue Demons (3-2) never trailed while snapping their two-game losing streak.
Jacob Hogarth posted 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Runnin’ Bulldogs (0-5), who shot just 34.8% (23 of 66) from the field and committed 18 turnovers. D.J. Jefferson scored 12 points while Spence Sims and Ace Talbert added 10 points apiece.
DePaul didn’t give Gardner-Webb a chance to repeat the result of the schools’ only previous meeting — when current DePaul head coach Chris Holtmann led Gardner-Webb into DePaul and pulled off a 71-59 victory on Nov. 15, 2012.
Though both teams started sluggishly — Gardner-Webb missed 11 of its first 12 shots while DePaul missed seven of its first eight — the Blue Demons seized control after the first media timeout.
Blocker made a putback, Banks drilled a 3-pointer and Gunn sank a pullup in the lane to seize a 15-4 lead at the 12:54 mark. Then Banks threw down a dunk and NJ Benson slammed home an alley-oop inbounds pass to push the margin to 19-4.
DePaul continued to mix slashes to the hoop with open 3-point attempts against the undersized Runnin’ Bulldogs. The Blue Demons hit 16 of their last 25 shots of the first half to build a 48-24 halftime lead.
The second half turned into a breakneck dunkfest for DePaul. Flores opened the half with a slam. Then, during a 30-second span that began with about 6:30 to go, Flores threw down two dunks on the break and missed a third on a tough alley-oop pass.
Flores and backup center Khaman Maker also hammered home dunks down the stretch as DePaul finished with 10 slams and nine layups to own a 48-30 advantage on points in the paint.
