Huskers Open Outrigger Rainbow Classic with Victory

Honolulu, Hawaii -- Junior center Aleks Maric recorded his fourth 20-point game of the season and Nebraska received career-best scoring efforts from a pair of point guards as the Huskers defeated Wyoming, 73-58, in the first game of the 2006 Outrigger Rainbow Classic Wednesday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

With the victory, Nebraska moves into the championship bracket of the tournament and will play host Hawaii at 7:30 p.m. Hawaiian time (11:30 p.m. CST) on Friday, Dec. 22. The Huskers will then play at either 5 or 7:30 p.m. local time (9 or 11:30 p.m. CST) on Saturday, Dec. 23.

Both games this weekend can be seen in the state of Nebraska on My TV, including Time Warner in Lincoln (channel 110), Charter Communications in Grand Island area (channel 17) and DirecTV (Ch. 25 in the Lincoln television market), along with Cox Cable in Omaha (channel 248). Please check with your local provider and Huskers.com, kolnkgin.com or wowt.com for more information regarding a channel near you.

Maric, who missed Sunday's contest against Alabama A&M with a hip injury, returned to the starting lineup and posted a game-high 22 points to help the Huskers improve to 7-2 on the season and pick up their first win of the year away from Lincoln. The 6-11, 270-pounder just missed his third double-double of the season as he grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, helping the Huskers earn a 32-27 advantage on the glass.

Nebraska shot 48.1 percent from the field with Maric dominating the paint while hitting 9-of-14 shots from the floor. The Sydney, Australia native hit 5-of-8 shots from the floor after the intermission, scoring 12 of his points. Nebraska hit a sizzling 57.1 percent (16-of-28) from the floor in the second period after connecting on less than 40 percent to open the game.

Senior guard Charles Richardson Jr. knocked down 5-of-10 shots from the floor while posting a season-high 13 points, the second-highest scoring effort of his career. Richardson drilled a career-best three 3-pointers while freshman Jay-R Strowbridge added NU's only other made shot from beyond the arc. A native of Ardmore, Ala., Strowbridge started his first career game against the Cowboys, giving the Huskers three true freshmen in the opening lineup.

Strowbridge responded in impressive fashion as he hit 4-of-7 shots from the floor and all five attempts from the free throw line to post a career-high 14 points. He also dished out eight assists without a turnover after entering the game with just 10 assists in his first seven games.

Maric helped the Huskers pull away from the Cowboys midway throught the second period as he had two rebounds, a basket and a steal during a 7-0 Nebraska run. One of the key points in the game came when Wyoming's Daaron Brown was called for a foul on Maric's first rebound during the run. Brown, who had just missed the shot on the offensive end, was then given a technical foul to give him five and take out the Cowboys' widest body to battle Maric in the paint.

Paul Velander hit both free throws on the technical and added another from the charity stripe 20 seconds later before UW's Eric Platt snapped the run with two free throws. Platt added 13 points and combined with Brandon Ewing for 30 of the Cowboys' 58 points. Brad Jones added 10 points for Cowboys.

The Cowboys trailed by 14, 59-45, on Ryan Anderson's conventional 3-point play with 7:20 remaining, but never made it easy for the Huskers. Ewing converted a 3-point play of his own and Joseph Taylor added a jumper to get the lead back down to eight, before Maric and Strowbridge took over down the stretch. The pair combined for all 10 points in a 10-2 run that pushed the Husker advantage to 69-53 with 3:07 remaining.

NU lead by its largest margin at 73-55 on Jamel White's jumper with 44 seconds left before Taylor's 3-pointer in the final seconds cut the margin to 15. Wyoming shot just 43.5 percent from the field and was held 21 points below its season scoring average. The Cowboys came into the game averaging 79 points per game to rank among the national leaders, and had topped the 90-point mark three times.

Nebraska opened the game on a strong start, pulling out to a quick 10-2 lead before the first timeout behind 3-pointers from Richardson and Strowbridge. The Huskers continued to push the pace, extending the lead to nine points, 21-12, on an Maric basket with 8:45 remaining before intermission. 

Maric hit 4-of-6 from the field and finished the opening period with 10 points, but picked up two quick fouls with just under three minutes left in the half. Without Maric, the Huskers held on behind Richardson's solid shooting, as he hit 3-of-6 attempts in the first period. The rest of the Huskers combined to hit just 3-of-14 before halftime, leaving NU with a 38.5 shooting percentage, its second straight half -- and third all season -- under 40 percent.

Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Wyoming vs Nebraska 12/20/06 5:00 p.m. at Stan Sheriff Center, Honolulu, HI -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Wyoming 8-3, 0-1 RC TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 02 SPENCER, James...... f 0-6 0-3 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 28 20 TAYLOR, Joseph...... f 4-6 1-2 0-0 0 4 4 4 9 2 1 3 0 28 40 BROWN, Daaron....... c 2-4 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 5 4 1 2 0 0 9 01 JONES, Brad......... g 4-9 1-4 1-3 2 3 5 2 10 3 5 0 2 37 23 EWING, Brandon...... g 6-11 1-3 4-4 0 0 0 2 17 1 3 0 1 33 03 OKOYE, Ike.......... 0-3 0-0 1-2 2 3 5 1 1 0 5 0 0 17 31 PLATT, Eric......... 3-4 2-2 5-5 0 7 7 1 13 0 1 0 0 25 32 NELSON, Travis...... 1-3 0-0 2-3 0 0 0 0 4 0 2 1 0 17 34 ANDERSON, Chris..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 99 Team................ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+ TEAM................ 2 2 4 Totals.............. 20-46 5-14 13-17 7 20 27 17 58 7 20 4 3 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-21 38.1% 2nd Half: 12-25 48.0% Game: 43.5% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-6 50.0% 2nd Half: 2-8 25.0% Game: 35.7% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 7-9 77.8% 2nd Half: 6-8 75.0% Game: 76.5% 1

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska 7-2, 1-0 RC TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 21 Maric, Aleks........ c 9-14 0-0 4-6 1 8 9 2 22 0 2 2 1 25 01 Henry, Sek.......... g 1-5 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 3 2 1 1 1 1 25 03 Richardson, Charles. g 5-10 3-5 0-0 0 3 3 2 13 6 3 0 2 34 05 Strowbridge, Jay-R.. g 4-7 1-2 5-5 2 1 3 2 14 8 0 0 0 30 44 Anderson, Ryan...... g 3-8 0-2 1-1 2 3 5 4 7 1 2 0 2 24 12 Marks, Kyle......... 3-6 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 2 6 0 2 0 0 13 25 Velander, Paul...... 0-0 0-0 3-4 0 0 0 2 3 1 0 0 0 18 31 White, Jamel........ 1-4 0-0 2-2 1 0 1 2 4 1 2 0 1 20 34 Ledsome, Jim........ 0-0 0-0 2-2 1 0 1 2 2 1 1 0 1 11 TEAM................ 2 3 5 1 Totals.............. 26-54 4-11 17-20 10 22 32 21 73 19 14 3 8 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-26 38.5% 2nd Half: 16-28 57.1% Game: 48.1% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-8 37.5% 2nd Half: 1-3 33.3% Game: 36.4% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 7-9 77.8% 2nd Half: 10-11 90.9% Game: 85.0% 1

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Bill Gracey, John Higgins, Larry Spaulding Technical fouls: Wyoming-BROWN, Daaron. Nebraska-None. Attendance: Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Wyoming....................... 26 32 - 58 Nebraska...................... 30 43 - 73 Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic Game #1

Points in the paint-WY 20,NU 30. Points off turnovers-WY 15,NU 27. 2nd chance points-WY 8,NU 12. Fast break points-WY 0,NU 0. Bench points-WY 18,NU 15. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-0 times. Last FG-WY 2nd-00:12, NU 2nd-00:44. Largest lead-WY None, NU by 18 2nd-00:44.