SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - There was no television monitor to judge whether Will Creekmore's banked 3-pointer beat the buzzer to force overtime Sunday. | Photo gallery | MVC scores, stats

Yet, as Missouri State's players and those fans who stuck around JQH Arena celebrated, Brandon Sampay wasn't worried that Illinois State would collapse in the extra five-minute period.

"We emphasize 'never put your head down' and 'next play.' There was nothing you could do about that," said the ISU senior forward. "He hit the shot, and we had to come back."

The Redbirds, who rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit, had to hold their breath a couple more times in overtime. Only when Kyle Weems' desperate 40-footer hit the rim and bounced off were the Redbirds able to secure a wild 72-69 victory in the Missouri Valley Conference opener before a crowd of 7,087.

ISU improved to 12-0 to equal the best start in school history, joining the 1977-78 squad. ISU meets Evansville at 2:05 p.m. Wednesday at Redbird Arena.

Coach Tim Jankovich hopes every Valley game isn't this dramatic or draining. He admired the Redbirds' resiliency in overtime after Creekmore's shot.

"That was an absolute sword through the heart. That was tough stuff to swallow," said Jankovich. "Over the course of the whole year I would be surprised if there's one moment that I'll remember as requiring more toughness as our overtime here."

Guard Lloyd Phillips, who paced ISU with 16 points, sank a 3-pointer over 6-foot-8 Wade Knapp to give ISU a 55-52 lead with 30 seconds left. Spencer Laurie missed a 3-pointer to tie with five seconds left as the Redbirds got the rebound.

Missouri State (7-5) had a couple fouls to give. After two fouls, Eldridge's pass went out-of-bounds off Sampay's hands with 1.6 seconds left.

Laurie in-bounded the ball for the Bears near midcourt. The pass was tipped before Creekmore got control, turned and banked in a 3-point attempt from the top of the key. Because there was no television coverage, referees couldn't check a courtside monitor to see if Creekmore released the shot in time.

"Kyle tipped it in the air, I grabbed it and got it off as quick as I could," said Creekmore. "I really wasn't sure if it counted, but I was praying it would."

Several Missouri State fans had left after Laurie's 3-pointer missed. ISU, though, had no intention of checking out in overtime.

"It was five more minutes to fight. We were going to keep fighting no matter what," said Phillips. "We were going to fight like they fought. They fought to the last buzzer, and we were going to do the same thing. We could have easily said we had it, but not in that locker room."

The game seemed over again when Eldridge made two free throws to give ISU a 70-63 lead with 11 seconds left. Not so fast, though. Justin Fuehrmeyer banked in a 3-pointer and, after Emmanuel Holloway split a pair of free throws, Weems sank a long 3-pointer with three seconds left.

After Holloway again made only one of two free throws, Dinma Odiakosa knocked a long pass out of bounds with 0.6 seconds showing. Weems took a pass and hurled a long shot. This time, the miracle 3-pointer wasn't forthcoming.

"Road games are so difficult in any conference," said Jankovich. "When you feel you have one won, and to walk out of here with a loss, would have been a really, really tough pill to swallow."

Sampay added a career-high 14 points. Champ Oguchi struggled from the field, going 3-of-12, but scored 14 points while Eldridge added 13.

"Brandon was fantastic," said Jankovich. "He was the spark that changed the game and gave us hope and got everyone believing again."

Creekmore, a 6-9 sophomore playing his fourth game after transferring last year from Boston University, paced the Bears with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Knapp contributed 15 points and eight rebounds.

First-year Missouri State coach Cuonzo Martin wasn't surprised ISU was able to recover in overtime from Creeekmore's buzzer beater.

"You can say you have an advantage from the standpoint of being home and having some momentum, but you still have to play the game," said Martin. "We had three key turnovers late. You have to be able to execute plays."

Missouri State led 34-24 at halftime and extended the margin to 43-28 on Laurie's fourth 3-pointer with 15:28 left.

"You could see in each other's eyes we had to come back and work harder," said Sampay. "Defense-wise in the first half, we stunk up the joint. It looked like we hadn't played in a long time (eight days)."

The Redbirds seized control with a 22-2 run to gain a 50-45 lead. The Bears scored the next seven points to regain the lead before Phillips' running bank shot tied the game with 1:25 left.

ISU held Missouri State to 27.3 percent shooting (8 of 33) after halftime. The Redbirds shot 47.9 percent for the game and were outrebounded 36-27.

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Redbird Report Card

FRONT COURT: C +

Brandon Sampay played the best game of his ISU career (14 points, 4 rebounds). The Redbirds allowed the Bears too many offensive rebounds (15) while losing the battle of the boards, 36-27.

BACK COURT: B -

Missouri State held Osiris Eldridge and Champ Oguchi under control most of the way. Lloyd Phillips was superb down the stretch, and the Redbirds' defense finally stopped Spencer Laurie when it mattered.

BENCH: A -

Sampay and Phillips (16 points, three steals), who was late to practice Sunday and didn't start, were probably the Redbirds' best players. Alex Rubin got his feet wet with his first three minutes of season.

OVERALL: B -

ISU was clearly the best team the last 20 minutes, but the first 25 nearly was enough to mean defeat No. 1. There will be plenty of nail-biters in the Valley. To come back strong in overtime on the road after Missouri State tied it at the buzzer showed a lot of grit.