OMAHA - Indiana State wrapped up a short but sweet road trip with another 10-point victory here Saturday afternoon and may have smashed the Creighton jinx in the process.

The Sycamores' 90-80 victory was their first ever over the Bluejays, and at least partly made up for three heartbreakers against Coach Tom Apke's team a year ago.

And while Wichita partisans Thursday could complain that ISU's 94-84 win may have come because Cheese Johnson was out, the 8,908 partisans at Civic Auditorium had no excuses. For certainly Creighton could hardly have played better than it did Saturday afternoon.

Unfortunately for the home-town crowd, however, neither could Larry Bird have played much better.

Held to just six shots in the first 20 minutes (he made four), the Sycamore All-American put on one of his vintage shows in the second half by scoring 20 points while hitting his first nine shots from the field and first two at the foul line. He ended with 29 for the day.

That first miss didn't come until the home team had scored 13 points and the rebound basket plus another gave the Bluejays a 60-58 lead with 14:25 left to play.

Sycamore points in that stretch were all the result of Bird. He opened the half with a 25-footer, scored on a rebound, assisted Brad Miley, hit again from outside, put in another rebound, drove through traffic for a falling 15-foot one-hander, then tied the game at 60 after a time out with another 20-footer.

Creighton got the lead one more time when McKenna hit a free throw for a 61-60 score (it was the 21st lead change in a game that had been tied 14 times).

Another basket by Bird, this one a fake to get Wesely off his feet, a duck inside and an 18-footer put ISU on top 62-61 and a steal by Leroy Staley set up Bird's assist to Alex Gilbert for a three-point lead seconds later.

Two baskets by Staley from the deep corner, both set up by Steve Reed assists and one by a Reed steal, increased the lead to seven before the home team could get a time out, and when play resumed it was two free throws by Bird and a basket by Reed for an 11-point lead.

It was Bird's first healthy appearance in Omaha. Last season, he was a flu victim in the regular-season game and was held to 11 points as the Sycamores were blown out, then had to get out of a hospital bed for the conference championship game (although he still hit 11 of 12 shots despite restricted mobility in that 54-52 loss).

Creighton fans saw the real Bird Saturday, though, and the Sycamores needed every bit of his brilliance to stay ahead in a torrid second half.

The Sycamores had a 46-43 lead at intermission, as Carl Nicks scored 16 points in the first 20 minutes while Larry was held in check with nine.

Then Creighton, which had hit 57 percent in the first half, came out for the second half even hotter. Just as they had done in every other meeting with the Sycamores, the Bluejays used their motion offense to free 6-3 guard John C. Johnson for good shots near the basket or, when Johnson was checked, set up front-liners Kevin McKenna or David Wesely for short jumpers near the key.

The first six minutes of the second half saw that offense work to perfection as Creighton hit seven of its first eight shots from the field and got the rebound and scored with the only shot the team missed.

Although Creighton never allowed the Sycamores to pull away much farther, neither did the Bluejays get much closer. A basket in the last 40 seconds that cut the lead to 86-80 was the only time in the last 10 minutes that Creighton came closer than seven points.

Bird led all scorers with 29 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a game in which ISU was beaten on the boards the worst it has been this season (39-30). Nicks scored 18, suffering a hard-luck second half, while Staley again provided instant offense off the bench with 13 tallies. Reed scored eight points and had 11 assists and Gilbert added six rebounds.

Johnson led Creighton, now 8-7 and 2-4 in Valley play, with 20 points plus seven rebounds, five assists and even two blocked shots. McKenna scored 15 before fouling out and Wesely added 13.

Apke told reporters after the game that he thought his ball club had played about as well as it could against the Sycamores. "If we play as well at Terre Haute next  Saturday, we'll have a good chance to win," he noted, and added later, "If we keep playing like that the rest of the season, we'll be okay."

Speaking about Bird, Apke said "He's the best in the country, and he's impossible to stop when he's hitting from outside the way he was. Whatever it is that it takes to stop him, we don't have it. We tried to keep him from getting the ball inside but in the first half he made the great passes to set up everybody else.'

Asked about the Sycamores' fifth-place national ranking. the Creighton coach noted, "If there is a better team in college basketball, I'm glad we don't have to play them."

Coach Bill Hodges said afterwards "We didn't play our best or our worst of the season at either end of the court, but we may have played our smartest.

"When Larry gets a hot hand the way he did, it's tough for anyone to stop us," Hodges continued. "And he's also a great leader out there. He kept the whole team cool," Hodges concluded, and added similar praise for Nicks and Reed for their coolness under pressure.

The 16-0, 6-0 Sycamores will return to Terre Haute just in time to host pre-season conference favorite Southern Illinois at 7:30 p. m. Monday (the game is sold out) with the Bluejays' return engagement Saturday.