Creighton opens MVC play with win at Illinois State

Antoine Young scored 21 points and Gregory Echenique added 14 points and seven rebounds as Creighton opened Missouri Valley Conference play with a 64-53 victory at Illinois State, snapping a five year losing streak at Redbird Arena.
Creighton trailed most of the first half before taking its first lead, but pulled away with an 11-0 run and held ISU to 0 of 7 shooting in the final five plus minutes of the first half to open a nine point lead at 38-29 at the break.
Creighton scored the first four points of the second half to take its largest lead at 42-29, but went on a six minute dry spell as ISU got to within five. The Redbirds would eventually get the game to 46-42 with just under 12 minutes to play, but would never get closer.
Creighton returns to Omaha to start a two-game homestand on Saturday with a 7:05 pm game against Drake. Drake defeated Southern Illinois, 69-55, on Wednesday night.