Northern Iowa relied on its basketball smarts Tuesday night to know when to switch gears against Creighton.

In jeopardy of letting the Missouri Valley Conference opener at Qwest Center Omaha slip out of their grasp, the Panthers started attacking the rim. That change in strategy sparked a decisive run that carried Northern Iowa to a 60-52 victory before an announced crowd of 17,152.

“We've got guys that can stay composed and have enough experience to know what they're looking for,'' Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson said. “If something is working for us, they'll continue to find it. If it's not and we have to go to something we haven't done, we have enough experience that we can do that.

“Our experience has certainly paid off in a number of games this year.''

It did again to turn Tuesday's game into a ninth straight victory in the Panthers' 10-1 start. A not-so poised group might have melted when Creighton was threatening to take control after the Bluejays survived a horrid start that saw them miss 15 of their first 16 shots.

Creighton fought back to pull within seven, 25-18, at halftime, then opened the second half by making seven of its first 11 shots. More importantly, the Bluejays were locked in on defense, forcing Northern Iowa to miss nine of its first 12 shots after halftime and commit two turnovers.

That combination allowed Creighton to take its first lead since the 17:26 mark of the first half when Casey Harriman made two free throws for a 35-34 advantage with 11:36 to play. Northern Iowa scored the next three points, but P'Allen Stinnett and Cavel Witter made back-to-back 3-pointers for a 41-37 lead with 9:10 remaining.

The two long-range connections put a jolt into the crowd but left the Panthers considering other options. Most of their early misses in the second half were from the perimeter or on contested jump shots.

“I just figured I didn't need to shoot another jump shot,'' said Northern Iowa guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe, who missed 10 of his first 11 shots. “If I can't make a 15-foot jump shot, I'm sure I can make a 2-foot something. I just knew it was time for something different.''

So did his teammates. Ahelegbe scored on a put-his-head-down drive, then tied the game with two free throws after being fouled on another drive.

Adam Koch put the Panthers ahead 43-41 with two free throws, and Northern Iowa scored its next eight points on a runner from the lane by Ali Farokhmanesh, a drive by Kerwin Dunham, a length-of-the-court drive by Lucas O'Rear and a layup by Jordan Eglseder.

The 14-3 spurt left the Panthers with a 51-44 lead and Creighton wondering what happened.

“We let down on our defensive intensity, which had brought us back into the game,'' Creighton center Wayne Runnels said. “We got comfortable with the lead, as we've tended to in the past. We can't do that, especially after we had worked so hard to come back.''

Creighton had been victimized by crucial letdowns before in a season that now stands at 5-7. To have it happen again, especially given the circumstances, could be potentially devastating, guard Antoine Young said.

“We've been doing this all year,'' Young said. “We have leads, and we lose it. It's devastating, especially this one. We're at home, we're up. Our confidence right now is low, low, low.”

Creighton mounted one last charge, with Young capping an 8-3 run with a driving basket to pull the Bluejays within three at 55-52 with 57.6 seconds to play. He had a chance to get them even closer as he was fouled on the play, but missed the free throw.

Northern Iowa then made 5 of 6 free throws in the final 35 seconds to close the game and finish a 19-of-21 performance from the line. Meanwhile, Creighton made 11 of 18 free throws, with five of the misses coming in the final 7:55.

“They did the things necessary to win a basketball game,'' Creighton coach Dana Altman said. “They hit their (free) throws, which I think was the biggest part of it, and their vets — Ahelegbe, the big guy (7-footer Eglseder) and Koch — made some plays.''

Farokhmanesh led Northern Iowa with 15 points, while Ahelegbe added 12. Eglseder scored nine of his 11 points in the second half, while Koch had eight points and eight rebounds.

The Bluejays got a big game from Witter, who made 5 of 6 shots from 3-point range to finish with 17 points. It was Witter who finally put a spark into the offense by making three straight shots after Creighton had opened the game 2 of 20.

Runnels and Young each added eight points, but the Bluejays got only nine — 13 points below their averages — from leading scorers Kenny Lawson and Stinnett.

Still, this one came down to Creighton's inability to keep Northern Iowa from driving home the crucial points.

“We fought our way back into the ballgame, but then we had a series of defensive breakdowns that gave them some easy baskets and gave them the momentum back,'' Altman said. “We had that four-point lead, and we needed some stops.

“Instead, we made some fundamentally bad (defensive) plays.''

NORTHERN IOWA (10-1, 1-0)

Player, FG, FT, RB, PF, A, Min, TP

Koch, 2-8, 3-3, 8, 5, 0, 21, 8

Eglseder, 4-5, 3-4, 4, 3, 2, 20, 11

Farokhmanesh, 4-11, 4-4, 1, 3, 1, 32, 15

Ahelegbe, 3-13, 6-6, 4, 2, 4, 31, 12

Moran, 1-6, 1-2, 8, 1, 2, 31, 3

Koch, 0-1, 0-0, 4, 1, 1, 15, 0

Dunham, 1-2, 0-0, 2, 1, 0, 18, 2

Sonnen, 1-3, 0-0, 0, 0, 0, 6, 3

O'Rear, 2-2, 2-2, 6, 3, 1, 24, 6

James, 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 0

Totals, 18-51, 19-21, 37, 19, 11, 200, 60

3-point shots (5-19) — Farokhmanesh 3-8, Koch 1-3, Sonnen 1-2, Moran 0-4, Ahelegbe 0-1, Dunham 0-1.

Team rebounds — 1. Turnovers — 8. Shot percent — 35.3.

CREIGHTON (5-7, 0-1)

Player, FG, FT, RB, PF, A, Min, TP

Carter, 0-5, 0-0, 3, 2, 0, 16, 0

Ashford, 1-3, 3-4, 2, 4, 0, 24, 6

Lawson, 1-4, 4-4, 5, 3, 0, 19, 6

Stinnett, 1-8, 0-1, 6, 1, 3, 28, 3

Young, 4-10, 0-3, 3, 1, 3, 32, 8

Witter, 6-10, 0-0, 0, 2, 0, 25, 17

Bock, 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 0

Korver, 0-1, 0-0, 2, 0, 1, 9, 0

Runnels, 4-8, 0-1, 6, 3, 0, 21, 8

Harriman, 0-0, 4-5, 1, 2, 1, 17, 4

Wragge, 0-1, 0-0, 1, 0, 0, 7, 0

Totals, 17-50, 11-18, 29, 18, 8, 200, 52

3-point shots (7-19) — Witter 5-6, Stinnett 1-4, Ashford 1-3, Carter 0-2, Young 0-2, Korver 0-1, Wragge 0-1.

Team rebounds — 2. Turnovers — 10. Shot percent — 34.0.

Northern Iowa....................25 35—60
At Creighton.......................18 34—52

A — 17,152. Officials — J.D. Collins, Mike Sanzere, Paul Janssen.

Contact the writer:

679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com