Creighton University overcame a serious case of deja vu and took advantage of a long SIUC scoring drought Thursday night.

After giving up a 17-point first-half lead and falling behind by as much as eight points in the second half, the Bluejays rallied behind junior Rodney Buford and a solid effort from the free throw line for a 91-73 win in Omaha, Neb.

Buford scored 28 points, and Creighton outscored the Salukis 21-7 at the free throw line to pull away for the 18-point win. The Creighton bench outscored SIUC’s 31-7, and the Bluejays outscored the Salukis 40-12 in the game’s final 12:50 for their sixth straight win against SIUC.

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We made a great comeback, being down 15 in the first half, Saluki coach Rich Herrin said in his postgame radio show. After halftime, we jumped out and got another lead. Then, they really began to come, and we didn’t defend very good.

Creighton swept the season series with the Salukis in improving to 15-7 overall and 9-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Bluejays are 15-2 when their bench outscores their opponents’. SIUC fell to 10-12 overall and 5-7 in conference play.

The Salukis trailed 35-18 with seven minutes left in the first half. Creighton appeared ready to turn the game from a battle to a blowout.

But the Salukis refused to roll over for the Bluejays and instead reversed their fortunes with defensive pressure and a hot hand from three-point range. SIUC closed the gap to 40-38 on three consecutive three-pointers by sophomore guard Lance Brown, junior guard Monte Jenkins and senior forward Rashad Tucker.

The Salukis then completed the comeback on a 35-foot heave by senior guard Shane Hawkins at the first-half buzzer to take a 41-40 lead into the locker room. SIUC’s 20-3 run to end the half, included a 12-0 whitewash leading up to the buzzer.

The second half continued in the Salukis’ favor, as SIUC opened up a 59-51 lead with 12 minutes left in the game. But SIUC went cold from the field and Creighton grabbed the momentum after Saluki freshman Josh Cross was called for a technical foul after an altercation with Creighton center Doug Swenson.

The Bluejays proceeded to score 12 of the game’s next 15 points in opening up a 68-62 lead. SIUC then got in foul trouble, allowing Creighton to slowly build the margin of the win.

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The big thing that we’re probably the best at doing is rebounding, and we let them get the second shot many times, Herrin said. They probably had more offensive rebounds than we had defensive rebounds, and we can’t let that happen.

The Salukis wrap up a three-game road trip at the University of Northern Iowa Saturday at 12:05 p.m.