Huskers Rally Past Taipans, 89-83

Cairns, Queensland, Australia --- Marcus Neal Jr. and John Turek scored 20 points apiece to help the Nebraska men’s basketball team rally for an 89-83 victory over the Cairns Taipans Monday at the Bendigo Bank Basketball Complex.

Nebraska looked like it might blow open the game in the third period as it outscored the Taipans 25-14 while holding Cairns to just one field goal over the final 8:15 of the period. Cairns finished the game hitting just 36.1 percent (26-of-72) from the field, including 24.2 percent (8-of-33) from three-point range.

Leading 65-57 after three frames, Nebraska went cold on offense and had to fight its way back into the game.

The Huskers did not score a field goal in the period until Jason Dourisseau’s basket with 6:55 remaining gave Nebraska a 71-70 lead. Turek and Neal then combined for the Huskers’ next 13 points. Neal’s basket with 25 seconds remaining iced the victory and Jake Muhleisen added a pair of free throws with 12.8 seconds to play for the final points.

"As a team, we competed really hard in a physical game and made enough adjustments to get over the top," said Coach Barry Collier. "They were a physical and aggressive team and it was good to get a win on the road like this."

Nebraska struggled in the first quarter as Cairns raced to a 16-7 lead with nearly five minutes left in the period before the Huskers closed to 19-15 at the end of the quarter. Neal then exploded in the second frame, as he scored the Huskers’ first nine points of the period to get NU within 43-40 at the intermission.

Neal finished the game with 20 points on 7-of-20 shooting and added a pair of steals. Turek matched Neal’s performance with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting while adding eight rebounds and two assists in 25 minutes. Neal and Dourisseau each played 40 minutes, with Dourisseau adding 14 points, nine rebounds and three steals.

Corey Simms also had a strong game as he contributed 14 points by hitting 7-of-8 field-goal attempts while adding five rebounds. Nebraska hit 44.8 percent (30-of-67) from the floor, although it was just 1-of-12 from three-point range.

"Jason Dourisseau played really well in the first half and Marcus Neal had a strong second period and second half," Collier said. "John Turek also had a good game and really our senior class all the way around played well. We played some good defense at times tonight and that helped in the end."

Wes Wilkinson added 12 points, seven boards, three blocked shots and two steals to help the Huskers improve to 3-2 on their Australian tour.

Nebraska is off on Tuesday, but returns to action for its final game of the summer on Wednesday, Aug. 18, when the Huskers and Taipans square off in a rematch.

Official Basketball Box Score Nebraska vs Cairns 8/16/04 7:30 p.m. at Cairns, Queensland, Australia -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Nebraska TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 11 WILKINSON, Wes...... f 4-11 0-2 4-5 4 6 10 4 12 0 2 3 3 25 44 TUREK, John......... f 7-13 0-1 6-9 2 5 7 5 20 1 2 2 1 26 10 NEAL, Marcus........ g 7-22 1-5 5-5 0 1 1 1 20 4 5 0 2 40 12 MUHLEISEN, Jake..... g 0-6 0-3 4-4 0 6 6 5 4 1 3 0 1 33 21 SIMMS, Corey........ g 7-7 0-0 0-1 2 2 4 3 14 0 2 0 1 34 01 DOURISSEAU, Jason... 5-8 0-0 4-8 5 5 10 1 14 2 5 0 3 40 03 RICHARDSON, Charles. 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 2 0 2 9 05 STEGALL, Shuan...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 15 SCHLIEP, Bronsen.... 0-0 0-0 5-6 0 1 1 5 5 0 2 0 0 20 45 WILBRAND, Tony...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 2 3 5 1 0 0 2 1 0 8 TEAM................ 1 3 4 Totals.............. 30-69 1-12 28-38 17 33 50 26 89 8 25 6 13 240

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 30-69 43.5% Game: 43.5% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 1-12 8.3% Game: 8.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 28-38 73.7% Game: 73.7% 4,2

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Cairns TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 07 TIMMONS, Marcus..... f 6-17 2-8 4-5 1 7 8 4 18 2 5 1 4 41 12 THOMAS, Melvin...... f 4-11 0-1 6-6 1 5 6 4 14 0 1 1 1 29 04 CROSSWELL, Nathan... g 8-14 1-4 6-9 1 2 3 3 23 5 6 0 1 40 08 GRABAU, Aaron....... g 3-8 2-5 3-4 0 0 0 3 11 2 3 0 3 32 13 STEWART, Anthony.... g 2-10 2-9 1-3 2 1 3 5 7 4 2 0 0 38 05 ROBBINS, Brad....... 0-3 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 11 06 BOODNIKOFF, Gary.... 3-8 1-4 1-2 4 2 6 3 8 2 2 0 1 26 09 GEORGE, Deba........ 0-1 0-1 2-2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 11 CLOWRY, Brendan..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 20 TEAM................ 4 9 13 Totals.............. 26-72 8-33 23-31 13 28 41 25 83 15 21 2 12 240

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 26-72 36.1% Game: 36.1% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 8-33 24.2% Game: 24.2% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 23-31 74.2% Game: 74.2% 6

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Vaughan Mayberry, Jim Fancher, Tom Jones Technical fouls: Nebraska-None. Cairns-None. Attendance: Score by Periods 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total Nebraska...................... 15 25 25 24 - 89 Cairns........................ 19 24 14 26 - 83 Australian Summer Tour game 5 (3-2 record). Game played in four, 12-minute quarters.