Creighton University
Long Beach State
Young's Buzzer-Beater Bests Long Beach State, 81-79
2/18/2012 11:56:00 PM | Men's Basketball
OMAHA, Neb. -- Antoine Young's fallaway jumper with 0.3 seconds left lifted Creighton to an 81-79 win over Long Beach State on Saturday. Young's shot capped a game-ending 6-0 run that moved Creighton ahead of the 49ers for the first time since an early 13-12 lead.
Young's heroics capped a thrilling night of BracketBusters basketball in the made-for-TV event pitting mid-majors hopeful of an NCAA bid. The game was nationally-televised by ESPN2, with both teams owning top-45 RPI's and one of the marquee gamesin the 144-team event.
Young would finish with 16 points, while teammate Doug McDermott had a BracketBusters record 36 points and added 11 rebounds on 14-of-20 shooting from the floor and 8-of-9 at the line. He scored 20 of his points after intermission, when he was perfect in eight field goal attempts and four free throw tries.
After falling behind 11-4 in the opening minutes, Long Beach State (19-7) controlled much of the game. The Big West Conference visitor owned a lead as large as 37-28 in the first half, and were ahead 46-41 at the break after a long three-pointer from Casper Ware beat the halftime horn.
Both teams scored on their first three possessions of the second half, as the fast-paced action only seemed to rev up the intense crowd primed for the rare 9 pm Saturday night start. But just as CU would draw close, it seemed like Ware would consistently answer. Creighton (23-5) missed three shots and had two turnovers in the first 12 minutes of the second half when it could have tied the score or gone ahead.
In fact, the visiting 49ers seemed in good shape when Larry Anderson's three-point play gave The Beach a 76-68 edge with 5:34 to go. But an athletic tip-in by McDermott, then two foul shots by the sophomore, helped CU get within four at the 3:47 mark.
Two foul shots by Grant Gibbs made it a two-point game, only to have LBSU's T.J. Robinson answer with a lay-up to put Long Beach up 79-75 with 2:32 to play.
The Jays would then run down most of the shot clock before McDermott plucked an offensive rebound over a defender, then somehow extended his long arm through the defense for a nifty reverse lay-in. Gibbs would then steal the ball from Anderson and CU tied it with 1:09 left on a jump hook by Gregory Echenique.
After getting a defensive stop with 48 seconds left, CU turned the ball over on a backcourt violation. Given another chance, Long Beach State turned it over once again, as Robinson lost the ball with 29.4 left.
The Jays would call a timeout and run down the clock under 10 before Young made a move. McDermott set a ball screen near the of the key, and the defenders switched assignments. That allowed Young to squeeze in between three defenders, where his six-footer while falling back hit nothing but net.
Time expired as students spontaneously stormed the court for the first time in nine years at CenturyLink Center Omaha. After much of the Long Beach State bench left for the locker room, officials decided by put 0.3 seconds back on the clock after the review of a courtside monitor.
But the added time wouldn't make a difference, as the inbounds pass was deflected and Long Beach couldn't get a shot off in time.
McDermott had 36 points and 11 rebounds to lead Creighton, while Young finished with 16. Creighton shot an even 50 percent for the night despite struggling to 5-of-23 shooting from long-range. The Jays outrebounded the more athletic 49ers team 33-26 and had just three of its 12 turnovers in the second half.
Long Beach State was led by 21 points from Ware, who played 28 minutes due to two early fouls. Robinson had 20 points and eight rebounds, while Anderson finished with 15 points. Also in double-figures off the bench was Edis Dervisevic. Long Beach State shot 58.8 percent from the field, including 7-of-15 (46.7 percent) from deep.
Creighton returns to Missouri Valley Conference action for the final two games of the regular-season. The Bluejays host Evansville on Tuesday at 7 pm, and will honor Antoine Young, Derek Sebastian, Matthew Dorwart and Ross Ferrarini after the game as part of Senior Day festivities.
NOTES: Doug McDermott's 36 points were his second-highest total of his career, eight behind the 44 he scored at Bradley ...McDermott's 649 points rank seventh-most in Creighton single-season history and are fifth-most in MVC history by a sophomore ...Doug McDermott now owns 1,230 career points, most in CU history for the first two years of a career ...Creighton improved to 7-3 in BracketBusters games (5-2 on TV), while Greg McDermott is now 5-1 in the original BracketBusters games ...Long Beach State has played road games at four of the top-nine national leaders in attendance this season, but lost all four games ...Creighton has won 38 straight regular-season home games vs. non-conference foes ...Creighton has won 88 straight home games when scoring 70 or more points ...Creighton is 13-0 this season when a player has 15 points in a half or more ...Creighton is now 4-1 all-time against Long Beach State.
