Creighton University
Nebraska
Late Basket by Huskers Tops Men's Basketball, 54-52
11/29/2008 12:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball
LINCOLN, Neb. - Ade Dagunduro's basket with 2.7 seconds left gave Nebraska a 54-52 win over Creighton on Saturday night at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The Huskers used a 27-7 run to open the second half and overcome a 13-point halftime deficit before 13,291 fans.
The teams, who have met annually since 1977, are the only Division I men's basketball school's in the state.
Nebraska improved to 5-0 on the young season while CU lost its second straight to drop to 3-2.
Creighton held the Huskers scoreless for six straight minutes and without a field goal for a span of 8:16 while building an early 15-6 lead. Creighton's bench, led by reserves Casey Harriman and Chad Millard, scored seven of CU's points during that 11-2 run that broke the teams free from an early 4-4 tie.
The Jays would take their first double-digit lead of the night when Kenny Lawson Jr. posted up and scored in the lane to give CU a 23-12 edge with 3:27 to go in the opening half. A trey by Harriman a minute later pushed CU's lead to a dozen at 26-14. CU ended the first half with its largest lead of the opening 20 minutes at 31-18 when Kaleb Korver drained a trey from the corner with 35 seconds left in the half.
One game after being outrebounded by 20 in a two-point loss at UALR, the Jays outrebounded NU 24-12 in the first half.
An energized Nebraska team scored the first six points of the second half to get the red-clad home crowd on its feet and cut the deficit to seven, but CU answered with baskets by Lawson and a trey from Korver to push the lead back to a dozen.
NU responded with seven straight to close within 36-31 with 14 minutes left after back-to-back lay-ups by Steve Harley and prompt a CU timeout. After regaining possession on a held ball, NU's Paul Velander and Ryan Anderson drained consecutive treys as NU took a 37-36 lead, its first since 4-2, and forcing the Jays third timeout of the game.
Velander followed with back-to-back triples and Harley a basket in transition as NU's lead reached 45-38 before a Korver triple quieted the crowd with 9:02 left and trimmed the Husker lead to 45-41. A Harley jumper from the top of the key moved the lead back to six with 7:47 to go.
Neither team would score for the next four minutes until a free throw by Booker Woodfox trimmed CU's deficit to five at 47-42 at the 3:49 mark. The Jays would ratchet up the defense though, extending NU's scoring drought to six minutes and tying the game with 2:11 left on consecutive baskets by Harriman and Josh Dotzler.
Harley scored to put NU up with 1:49 left, only to see CU's Cavel Witter answer with his only field goal to tie the game 11 seconds later. Nebraska's Anderson was fouled on the other end but made just 1-of-2 free throws to put the Huskers up one.
CU would the clock down on its ensuing possession, but Lawson Jr.'s jump hoop rolled over the rim and out with 51 seconds left.
Nebraska got the rebound with a 16-second differential, which was wiped away after a non-shooting foul, CU's sixth of the half. The Jays then fouled Harley, who made both shots at the line to put NU up three with 25.9 seconds left. CU's Josh Dotzler answered with a three from the top of the key with 17.9 seconds left, tying the score at 52.
After a timeout, NU worked the ball to Harley, who drove around a high screen. When help came, Harley fed Dagunduro for a lay-up with 2.7 seconds left to give NU the lead. CU, out of timeouts, would inbound the ball to Dotzler, but his desperation heave while splitting two defenders from half-court was well short.
Creighton was paced by 10 points and nine rebounds from Lawson, who also blocked four shots. Korver and Harriman both scored nine points and snared four rebounds off the bench. Creighton shot 35.4 percent from the field and 7-of-19 (36.8 percent) from downtown, but did hit 11-of-13 (84.6 percent) at the line. CU outrebounded the Huskers 39-27, but had just five assists on 17 baskets to go with a season-high 24 turnovers.
Nebraska was paced by 18 points and six rebounds from Harley, while Dagunduro finished with 11 points. The Huskers shot 40 percent from the field and 29.4 percent from downtown while hitting 69.2 percent at the stripe. NU recorded 12 steals for the game and outscored the Jays 12-0 in transition and 22-6 off turnovers.
Creighton returns home on Tuesday when it hosts Mississippi Valley State in a 7 pm game at Qwest Center Omaha.
NOTES: Among those in attendance sitting courtside was comedian Larry The Cable Guy, a Nebraska native ...Creighton has held Nebraska to 22 first-half points or less in four of the past five meetings and led at half in the last four meetings ...The host school has won the past four meetings ...Creighton's 24 turnovers were its most in a game since having 25 miscues on Nov. 18, 2001 against North Carolina A&T ...Creighton won the team's 2004 meeting in Lincoln, 50-48, on a basket by Kellen Miliner with 0.7 seconds left.
