After battling a hot-shooting Creighton team for 28 minutes, Illinois State went cold and fell victim to a couple of late spurts and Kyle Korvers 24 points as the Jays won for just the second time in 18 tries in Normal, 76-62.
Korver led the Jays, 7-4 overall, 2-0 in the Missouri Valley, by hitting his first seven field goals, three from three-point range, and a pair of free throws. He finished 8-9 overall and had support from Terrell Taylors 15 points and 14 by Brody Daren, who made 6 of 7 field goals. Joe Dabbert had 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds as Creighton shot 63 percent from the field, including 4-8 from three-point range to overcome 20 turnovers.
The Redbirds, 4-8, 0-1 in the Valley, had four players in double figures led by Baboucarr Bojang with 13. Shedrick Ford had 12, Shawn Jeppson 11 and Gregg Alexander had 10. The lead changed 14 times and the game was tied nine times through the first 28 minutes. ISU shot 41 percent--just 9 of 25 in the second half and just one field goal in 11 tries during the final 12 minutes of the game. The Redbirds led 48-44 at that point, but Creighton out-pointed ISU 32-14 the rest of the way for its first road win of the season.
Redbird coach Tom Richardson thought his team let things get away from it in the second half.
We were up 48-44 and had the crowd into it and then we hit a drought, couldnt stop them, confidence goes quickly and that was the story, said Richardson. We had opportunities to control the game, but every time we had a chance to take control, either we didnt do something or they did something. I dont think they wore us down. We just couldnt sustain consistent play and lost confidence.
Ford agreed.
We just didnt execute and play to our potential, said Ford. As a senior, I take responsibility for that.
Jeppson converted back-to-back Redbird steals into a jump shot and a three pointer to erase a 15-10 Jays lead in the first half. Another CU turnover--the Jays had 12 at halftime--led to a Ford short jumper to put ISU ahead 17-15. The game stayed tight until Dirk Williams drained a three-pointer from the top of the key to put ISU up 31-30 with 49 seconds left, but Joe Dabberts tip-in 15 seconds later put the Jays up 32-31 at intermission.
Creighton led by as many as three early in the second half and led 42-40 with 15:20 left when Williams hit a short jumper and a free throw to put ISU ahead. Randy Rice added a layup after forcing a CU turnover and, after Mike Grimes scored for the Jays, Jeppsons long three-pointer gave ISU its biggest lead at 48-44. Korver, who had arthroscopic knee surgery two weeks ago, answered with back-to-back three-pointers to put Creighton back in front 50-48.
ISU reclaimed the lead 52-50 on a three-point play by Shedrick Ford with 12:28 left. Creighton scored 10 unanswered points and shut the Redbirds out for 5:20 before a Jeppson free throw broke the drought at 7:08 left. The Redbirds went without a field goal until Alexander hit a three-pointer with 4:02 left to cut Creightons lead to 68-58.
