Northern Iowa took No. 21 Creighton to the wire in Omaha, but the Bluejays squeaked out a 63-60 win.

Creighton’s Grant Gibbs scored all 10 of his points in the second half, including two clutch free throws, to give the Bluejays a three-point lead with 15 seconds remaining.

Anthony James missed a 3-pointer with five seconds left, and after Doug McDermott missed the front-end of a 1-and-1, Chip Rank was off the mark on a desperation trey at the buzzer.

Antoine Young, Creighton’s only senior, led the Bluejays with a season-high 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Doug McDermott, the nation’s second leading scorer at 25.2 points per game, was held to 14.

Northern Iowa (12-5, 2-3 MVC) took its largest lead at 31-20, but Creighton closed the first half on a 12-2 run and trailed by one at the break. Northern Iowa junior Marc Sonnen matched his season high for points in just the first half on 5-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc. The Panthers hit 8-of-12 3-pointers as a team in the opening half.

Creighton (14-2, 4-1 MVC) took an early lead in the second half as Gregory Echenique scored four points and grabbed six rebounds in the first four minutes. Northern Iowa quickly erased that deficit though with a 9-0 run and led for much of the second half. 

After the hot first half, Sonnen didn’t attempt a 3-pointer the rest of the game and finished with 15 to lead the team. Northern Iowa finished 12 of 26 from 3-point range.