St. Louis, MO -- (Sports Network) - Adam Emmenecker scored 20 points, tallied 11 assists, and grabbed five rebounds as 20th-ranked Drake downed Creighton 75-67 to roll into the final of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament for the first time ever.

The Bulldogs will face Illinois State, 56-42 winners over Northern Iowa on Saturday, in Sunday's championship game. Drake edged the Panthers twice in the regular season -- 79-73 at home on January 19, and 73-70 on the road on February 5.

"It really means a ton," said Emmenecker of the spot in the MVC title game. "It means a lot to us as individuals, you know, going through the struggles of the last three and four years, to have so many seniors and fourth or fifth year players on this team that are major contributors."

Josh Young had 16 points and Leonard Houston had 14 points and seven rebounds for top-seeded Drake (27-4), which has won three straight. Klayton Korver had 13 points and six boards, and Jonathan Cox had 10 points and 11 rebounds, as all five Bulldogs starters scored in double figures.

P'Allen Stinnett scored 18 points to lead Creighton (21-10), the defending champions and the No. 4 seed. Booker Woodfox and Dane Watts contributed 13 points each, and Cavel Witter scored 11 points for the Bluejays.

The Bulldogs were making their first appearance in the semifinal round of the MVC tourney since 1993, and made the most of it. Drake held a 68-58 lead after two Emmenecker free throws with 2:34 remaining, but Creighton had one last push.

Witter scored a layup then made two free throws, and a Stinnett jumper sliced the Drake lead to 68-64 with 44.9 ticks left. The Bluejays had a chance to cut the deficit to two after a Witter steal following the inbounds, but Witter missed a floater, and Houston made one-of-two free throws to put Drake up 69-64.

Witter was fouled driving the lane, but missed one-of-two from the line, and Creighton trailed 69-65 with 29.5 seconds left.

Emmenecker made two free throws with 25.2 seconds left to put Drake up 71-65, but Witter answered again with a layup with 21.3 ticks remaining. Emmenecker again sank both free throws for a 73-67 lead, and Woodfox missed a three, allowing Houston to make two free throws, icing the game with 9.9 seconds left.

"We could never get the stop," said Creighton head coach Dana Altman. "They hit a couple deep threes on us, but we just never could get the stop, you know, that we needed, and you know, we had our opportunities."

Drake erased an early four-point deficit and jumped on top with an 11-0 push late in the first half. Korver drained a three on the run, which Young closed with a three of his own, giving the Bulldogs a 26-19 lead with 2:32 remaining in the half.

Watts stemmed the run with a dunk, but Young and Emmenecker dropped in layups in the final two minutes as Drake closed the half with a 15-2 run, and took a 30-21 lead into the break.

Creighton scored seven straight, capped by a three from Stinnett, to trim the deficit to 30-28 early in the second half. Drake pulled back away, though, as Houston and Young drained threes, sandwiching a Korver layup, and the 8-0 spurt put the Bulldogs up 41-31 with 13:52 left.

Again the Bluejays rallied from 10 down to pull to within two, as Watts and Woodfox made consecutive threes, and two Stinnett free throws pulled Creighton within 45-43 with 11:01 remaining.

Game Notes

Creighton's Kaleb Korver, Klayton's younger brother, did not score...Kenny Lawson scored six points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Creighton...The top seed has won only 10 championships in the league's 31-year tournament history, with only three titles by a No. 1 seed in the 17 previous years in St. Louis. The last No. 1 seed to win the MVC Tournament was Illinois State in 1998...The Bulldogs, who are holding the No. 1 seed for the first time ever in MVC Tournament history, improved to 1-3 against Creighton in the MVC Tournament and 1-4 in the semifinal round.