Juwan Gary scored 21 points and took nine returns when Nebraska got a victory 79-69 over Boise State and advanced to the championship in the opening college basketball tournament Saturday at Las Vegas.
Gary went 4-for-4 from 3-point intervals for Cornhuskers (20-14), which went 12 out of 19 from Long Range as a team. Brice Williams, who led Big Ten in points at 20.5 points, chipped in 14 points, five returns and six assists, while Sam Hoiberg scored 10 points.
Tyson Degenhart poured 26 points to go with eight returns for Boise State (26-11) and became the program’s leader in a season in points (677) just a few days after crossing the 2000 point mark in his career.
Andrew Meadow finished with 14 points and Pearson Carmichael added 13 for Broncos, which on average was 94.5 points per match in the first two races in the tournament.
Up six in half, Nebraska grew forward with double-digit when Hoiberg joined from long reach and gave Cornhuskers a lead of 46-35 with 17:55 to go.
Boise State pulled within 64-56 at the 7: 40 mark on a layout of Javan Buchanan but Nebraska quickly got the lead back to double figures and was up 74-59 with 4:48 left after a Williams arrangement.
The two teams played for the first time ever and fought for the right to secure a $ 100,000 guarantee in zero money to make the championship. The master will acquire $ 300,000. Boise State earned $ 50,000.
Pearson Carmichael buried back-to-back 3 points to give Boise State a lead of 13-8 with 14:57 to go in the opening half.
Nebraska tied it when Williams drilled a 3-pointer who leveled the score 13-13 with 13:29 left in half. Cornhuskers cooled, nine pictures in a row was missing, while Broncos pushed forward 24-17 with 7:57 left after Carmichael made a 3-point.
Nebraska came back in the game and ended a distance of more than six minutes without a field goal when Hoiberg and Gary met Back-to-back 3 points that drew Cornhuskers within one at 26-25.
Nebraska used a 15-1 run to take control, grab its first lead of 29-27 on a layout of Gary with 4:52 left and take a 39-33 advantage to half time.
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