Creighton University
Illinois State
Men's Basketball Takes Down Redbirds, 87-78
1/13/2012 10:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NORMAL, Ill. -- The No. 23 Creighton men's basketball team placed five players in double-figures, improving to 15-2 on the season with an 87-78 win on Friday night at Illinois State.
Creighton remained tied for first place with Wichita State in the Missouri Valley Conference standings, improving to 15-2 overall and 5-1 MVC. Illinois State (11-6, 3-3 MVC) has now lost 22 straight games against ranked teams since a Dec. 29, 1987 win vs. No. 14 Iowa.
The teams exchanged leads 12 times during a fast-paced first half. The Jays took their largest lead at 34-28, only to have ISU answer with a 7-0 run to reclaim the lead. Creighton returned the favor with a 6-0 run of its own to lead 40-35 at halftime.Doug McDermott led all players with 11 points at the half, while Jahenns Manigat had nine. The Jays got points from nine of its 10 participants in the half, including 12 bench points. Creighton shot 60.7 percent in the opening half, and were 6-of-11 from downtown. Bryant Allen led ISU with nine points.
The Jays continued to shoot well to start the second half, as Ethan Wragge came off the bench for two quick three-pointers to help the Jays take a 51-41 lead. Wragge's fourth trey of the game, in transition, helped CU take edge with 11:53 left. The flurry was part of an 11-0 run that had CU up 64-46 with 9:50 remaining.
Inspired by junior Jackie Carmichael, ISU scored seven straight to draw within 11 points, but CU's Antoine Young countered with a lay-up to stem the tide.
ISU got within nine points (72-63) on a three-pointer by Bryant Allen with 4:18 left and whittled the deficit to six on a trey from reserve Johnny Hill.
But Young hit another difficult shot, and his three-point play helped hand the Jays a 74-66 cushion with 3:26 to play.
ISU scored its next three trips, twice by Bryant Allen and once from Johnny Hill, to close within 75-72 and 1:49 to go. CU's Young missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but ISU's Cousin missed a jumper and McDermott answered with a nifty spin move to put CU up 77-72. ISU's Allen had another trey to make it a two-point game with 59.8 seconds left.
With 41.7 seconds left, Gibbs split two foul shots to give CU a three-point lead. Johnny Hill had a chance to tie it with a deep trey, but his trey was off the mark. A frustrated Hill then fouled Gibbs along the left sideline, then pushed him and was ejected from the contest.
Gibbs made his two foul shots to put CU up 80-75 with 24.4 seconds left. McDermott missed two at the line, but the Jays retained the ball. CU iced the game at the line with foul shots from Young, Gibbs and Manigat.
McDermott led CU with 20 points to lead five men in double-figures. Manigat and Wragge each had 14, Young had 13 and Gibbs had 12 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. In addition, Gregory Echenique had seven points and 10 rebounds. The Jays shot 57.1 percent from the field and 55.6 percent from three-point range. Both marks were the best this season against ISU.
Allen had a career-high 29 points for ISU, while Carmichael tallied 14 points. ISU shot 46.4 percent for the game and were 8-of-32 from three-point territory.
Creighton returns home on Sunday for a 6:05 pm game against Southern Illinois.
NOTES: Doug McDermott, who entered the game with 973 career points, scored 20 and now has 993 ...Creighton was playing its first game on a Friday the 13th since a win at Indiana State on Jan. 13, 1989 ...This is the first time since 2002-03 and fifth time in school history that Creighton has won at least 15 of its first 17 games ...Austin Chatman's three-pointer early in the first half was his second career trey, and first since Nov. 13 vs. Chicago State ...Doug McDermott scored 20 points for the 13th time this season ...Gregory Echenique had 10 rebounds, his third straight game of 10 or more
