Cedar Falls, IA -- No. 13 Creighton discovered a lesson
nearly as old as college hoops itself. When you're playing a league
game on the road against a team hitting its shots, you're probably
in trouble.
     Antoine Young and the Bluejays did nearly everything they could
to stave off the upset, but Anthony James buried a 3 as time
expired as Northern Iowa upset the Bluejays 65-62 on Saturday,
snapping their 11-game winning streak.
     James scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half and Seth
Tuttle added 13 points for the Panthers (16-9, 6-7 MVC), who handed
visiting Creighton (21-3, 11-2) its first loss since late-December.
     "He makes them from a lot of places," Northern Iowa coach Ben
Jacobson said about James. "He got himself to a spot where he was
closer to the basket and just felt more comfortable. That was a big
play."
     The first big play of a thrilling finale came from Young, who
saw his teammates heavily guarded and pulled up from the top of the
key to tie it at 62. James dribbled the length of the court,
stepped back from the wing and kept his shooting hand in the air
after the game-winner, which sent Panthers fans streaming onto
their home court.
     Young scored 23 points and Doug McDermott, who originally
committed to Northern Iowa, had 18 points and 12 rebounds for
Creighton. The Bluejays shot 42 percent from the floor and got just
10 points from their bench.
     "You hope when you're not perfect that you find a way to gut
one out, and we almost found a way to get this one into overtime,"
Creighton coach Greg McDermott said.
     James' stunning winner was a fitting capper to this
back-and-forth contest between these heated Valley rivals. Northern
Iowa opened up a 51-45 lead with 5:21 left. The Panthers reeled off
an 11-2 run capped by a layup by Deon Mitchell and a 3 from Chip
Rank, and McDermott picked up his fourth foul on a charge near the
basket.
     Young stopped the UNI surge with a three-point play, pulling the
Bluejays within a possession with 3:55 left, but Jake Koch's 3 with
1:11 left gave the Panthers a 58-54 lead.
     James buried a huge 3 from the corner with 23 seconds left to
put Northern Iowa ahead 61-56. Creighton's Jahenns Manigat made it
61-59 on a 3 with 15 seconds left but James, who shot 6 of 14 from
the floor, hit the one that mattered at the end. The Bluejays
outrebounded Northern Iowa 44-30 and only allowed three
second-chance points. But they also let the Panthers hit 11 of 21
tries from 3-point range.
     Northern Iowa's Johnny Moran buried a 3 and Rank scooped through
heavy traffic, putting the Panthers ahead 39-34 with 14:40 left.
They could've gone ahead by seven, which would have been the
biggest lead yet for either team, but Young smartly stripped Matt
Morrison at the rim. Ethan Wragge's rushed 3 and bank shot at the
end of two sloppy possessions brought Creighton back even at
40-all.
     McDermott then tipped a loose ball to himself over four Panthers
in the paint, converting a three-point play to give the Bluejays a
43-40 lead with 11:02 left. Creighton finished just 5 of 16 from
3-point range, and nobody but Young and McDermott scored more than
eight points.
     "We just needed some offense from somewhere else. Antoine and
Doug were good," Greg McDermott said. "It was just one of those
nights. You play (24) games and they're not all going to be
perfect."
     Northern Iowa rolled into Valley play with a realistic shot at
yet another NCAA tournament berth after wins over Old Dominion,
Providence, Iowa and Iowa State in nonconference play. But the
Panthers had lost four of their last six, uncharacteristically
struggled to knock down shots.
     But they nearly beat Creighton in Omaha on Jan. 10, losing
63-60, and this time they finished Creighton off.
     "They played us great twice," Greg McDermott said. "They
controlled the tempo better than anybody has on us all year. We won
a close one and they won a close one."