For 33 minutes, Creighton didn’t have an answer for Northwestern’s Drew Crawford, who torched the Bluejays for 34 points. But with Crawford on the bench for five minutes in the second half with four fouls, the Bluejays went on a 14-5 run to take an eight-point lead and went on to win 87-79.

Crawford shot 13 of 17 from the floor and fouled out with 2:15 remaining and the Wildcats (10-2) trailing by 10. Northwestern’s leading scorer John Shurna played the entire game and scored 18 points to go along with a nine rebounds and six assists.

No. 21 Creighton (10-1) led 37-36 at halftime even though star Doug McDermott picked up his second foul with 12:18 remaining and didn’t return until the second half. Antoine Young kept the Bluejays close with nine first-half points until Ethan Wragge hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Creighton a 36-33 lead, capping an 11-0 run. Crawford scored 19 in the first half on 9-of-11 shooting.

Despite the foul trouble, McDermott still managed to score 27 points on 10-of-14 shooting. It was the 10th straight game with 20-plus points for the nation’s second-leading scorer.

The Bluejays lit it up from beyond the arc, hitting 12-of-21 3-pointers, including three apiece by McDermott, Wragge and Jahenns Manigat. The Bluejays dished out 26 assists on 30 baskets, including 12 from Grant Gibbs. Young, the team’s only senior, finished with 13 points and seven assists.

A raucous crowd of 17,676 was on hand for the win, the second-largest crowd in the CenturyLink Center’s history.