McDermott helps No. 23 Creighton top Illinois St. (AP)

NORMAL, Ill. ? Johnny Hill missed a tying 3-pointer with 33 seconds left and got himself ejected nine seconds later for a hard foul. After the two technicals were assessed, the crowd threw debris on the court, causing a third technical.

Just like that, Illinois State's chances to upset No. 23 Creighton evaporated.

Creighton wound up making nine free throws down the stretch to pull away for an 87-78 win Friday night. Doug McDermott scored 20 points for the Bluejays, his 13th game with at least 20 this season.

"We are in the middle of a very tough three-game stretch and, given that, I was amazed we were only down a possession with less than a minute to go," Illinois State coach Tim Jankovich said.

Hill made two big 3-pointers in the final five minutes. His second one cut Creighton's lead to 77-75 with a minute left.

"We beat a really good basketball team tonight," Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. "We knew it was going to be tough coming in here tonight. And it was."

Ethan Wragge made two 3-pointers shortly after halftime to help the Bluejays (15-2, 5-1) get out to a 64-46 lead.

Bryant Allen scored 29 points for Illinois State.

"We had no answer for Allen tonight," McDermott said. "None. He beat us off the dribble. He beat us off the screen. He's just a very good player and he showed it tonight."

Jackie Carmichael had 14 points for ISU, and Hill finished with 9.

Carmichael, the Redbirds' leading scorer, went down midway through the second half with what looked like a leg injury. But he came off the bench a couple of minutes later and played strong the remainder of the game. After the game, he said he "felt fine," and expects to play Sunday game against Drake.

Jahenns Maigat and Ethan Wragge scored 14 points each for Creighton and Gregory Echenique had 10 rebounds.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120114/ap_on_sp_co_ga_su/bkc_t25_illinois_st

alexander the great personhood amendment haynesworth haynesworth ohio issue 2 ohio issue 2 mississippi personhood