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Fairbanks, Alaska--After a disappointing opening round loss to Villanova, Nebraska rebounded on Saturday afternoon with a 95-84 win over Washington State in the consolation bracket of the Top of the World Classic.
The Huskers trailed only twice in the contest and led for the game's final 38 minutes in the victory. However, Nebraska had to hold off several Washington State runs, keyed by hot outside shooting.
Nebraska jumped to a 16-7 lead less than five minutes into the game, but the Cougars stayed close throughout the half and tied the game at 35-all with 6:27 to play before halftime. The Huskers responded with a 15-6 run to open a 50-41 lead at the break. Nebraska shot lights-out in the first half, hitting 19 of 29 field goals (66 percent).
The Huskers started the second half strong opening a 59-46 lead with 17:24 to play, only to see Washington State go on a 10-0 run to slice the lead to three points. Nebraska dominated the next five minutes of the game and opened their biggest lead of the game at 77-62 with 9:35 to play, after five straight points from Troy Piatkowski. The Huskers still led 85-73 with 3:58 remaining, but Cougar guard Jan-Michael Thomas began an 8-0 WSU run with one of his seven, 3-pointers.
Nebraska held off the Cougars' final run with timely free-throw shooting, hitting all 10 free-throw attempts in the game's final 44 seconds.
The Huskers were led by senior center Venson Hamilton who scored a career-high 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Cookie Belcher added 18 points, Troy Piatkowski had 17, one off his career high and sophomore forward Chad Johnson added a career-high 13 points, 10 before halftime.
Hamilton's 11 rebounds moved him into second place on the Husker career rebounding list, passing Dave Hoppen. The 6-10 Hamilton now has 774 career rebounds, just eight caroms shy of the Husker career record, held by Leroy Chalk.
The Huskers advance into Sunday night's fifth-place game against Wisconsin, a winner over Virginia on Saturday. Game time for Sunday's contest is 7:30 p.m. Central time.