Huskers Cruise to Exhibition Win, 89-48

Lincoln ? Nebraska broke open a tie game midway through the first half and cruised to an 89-48 victory over Monterrey Tech in its first exhibition of the 2004-05 campaign Monday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Using a balanced attack, six Huskers finished in double figures, including Marcus Neal Jr. who led the team with 18 points.

"I thought finally having a chance to play together against somebody from the outside, as opposed to playing against ourselves day-after-day, was a really good thing," said NU coach Barry Collier. "I thought we did a number of good things, and obviously had a number of things we have to work on. I thought our intensity level was strong. I thought we played unselfishly, and made a lot of extra passes. After really struggling through the first 10 minutes or so, we were able to defend strongly by getting a little more pressure on the ball, forcing some turnovers and keeping the points down."

Monterrey Tech kept it close early in the game as Santiago Nogueira scorched the nets for 17 points in the opening period while hitting 6-of-6 from the field, including 5-of-5 from three-point range. Nogueira was shut down in the second half when he scored seven points to finish with 24 to pace Monterrey Tech. Sergio Gamboa added eight points and no other Tech player had more than six.

The Huskers did more than shut Nogueira down, as Monterrey Tech shot just 31.3 percent from the floor in the second period including 3-of-11 from three-point range. For the game, Monterrey Tech hit 37.7 percent from the field while the Huskers connected at a 53.0-percent clip, including 10-of-20 from three-point range.

Charles Richardson Jr. ignited the first-period run that put the Huskers up for good. Richardson had a defensive rebound and started a fast break that led to an Aleks Maric layup to break a 22-all tie, and added another fastbreak assist off a steal just a minute later.

Maric’s basket ignited the Huskers on a 22-4 run over the final 7:22 of the first half, including eight points by Corey Simms over the last three minutes of the period. Maric finished with 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds as the Huskers outrebounded Monterrey Tech 44-27.

In the second period, Monterrey Tech played even for the first eight minutes, until Neal began to heat up. Neal drained a pair of three-pointers and went on to finish hitting 6-of-8 from the floor and 3-of-3 from beyond the arc. The Huskers used a 9-2 run to open the second frame to put the game away and added 8-1 and 18-0 runs midway through the period for the 41-point victory.

Nebraska returns to the court on Saturday, Nov. 13 for its final exhibition contest of the season with a 2:05 p.m. tip off against Nebraska-Kearney.

Postgame notes
**Nebraska opened the exhibition season with an 89-48 win over Monterrey Tech. With the victory, the Huskers improved to 38-5 all-time in exhibition play and 8-1 under Coach Barry Collier.

**Two Nebraska newcomers saw action Monday against Monterrey Tech. Freshmen Aleks Maric and Joe McCray each played significant time in the game, with McCray finishing with 12 points off the bench while Maric had 10 points and eight rebounds.

**Nebraska scored at least 75 points for the sixth time in the past eight exhibition games. The 48 points NU allowed marked the third time in eight games the Huskers have not allowed an exhibition opponent to reach 50 points.

**Six Huskers reached double figures in the contest, including Marcus Neal (18), Jake Muhleisen (13), Joe McCray (12), Bronsen Schliep (11), Corey Simms (10) and Aleks Maric (10).