Cold Shooting First Half Doom Huskers

Fairbanks, Alaska--The Nebraska men's basketball team suffered through a scoring drought in the last 10 minutes of the first half and could not overcome a halftime deficit in a 75-60 loss to Villanova late Thursday night in the first round of the Ford Credit Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska.

The Huskers opened the contest strong, holding the lead for much of the first half. Nebraska led 21-14 with 9:44 to play in the first half after a Troy Piatkowski 3-pointer, but Nebraska managed just two points the rest of the first half. Meanwhile, Villanova heated up from the field and finished the first half on an 18-2 run to take a 32-23 lead into the locker room.

In the second half, Nebraska never mounted a serious run at the Wildcats and Villanova locked up the contest by scoring 21 of its last 23 points from the foul line.

The Huskers were led in scoring by center Venson Hamilton and guard Cookie Belcher who each scored 16 points. Forward Larry Florence was also in double figures with 14 points. Andy Markowski added a game-high 10 rebounds to help the Huskers to a 34-27 edge on the glass.

Nebraska was again plagued by turnovers in Thursday night's game, committing 14 errors before halftime and 24 for the game.

The Huskers drop into the consolation bracket of the Top of the World Classic. Nebraska is next in action on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m central time against Washington State. The Cougars were defeated by host Alaska-Fairbanks, 88-75, in Thursday's tournament opener.