Huskers Win First-Round Matchup; Face KU on Friday

Kansas City -- Nebraska continued to showcase one of the best defenses in the league by holding Missouri to 31.6 percent shooting and a season-low point total as the Huskers earned a 61-56 victory over the Tigers in the first round of the Big 12 Championship on Thursday.

Nebraska, the No. 7 seed in the tournament, limited No. 10 Missouri to 31.6 percent shooting and overcame nine Tiger 3-pointers to earn its fifth victory at the league tournament since the formation of the Big 12 in 1996-97. The victory marked the second time in three years the Huskers won their first-round game, with both victories coming against Missouri.

Senior center Aleks Maric posted 17 points and 13 rebounds and junior guard Steve Harley added 14 points to help Nebraska improve to 19-11 on the season while Missouri fell to 16-16. It also helped the Huskers' chances of reaching postseason play for the third time in five seasons next week while pulling NU within a game of its 12th 20-win season in program history. Nebraska's last 20-win campaign came in 1998-99, when the Huskers went 20-13 on the year and reached the postseason National Invitation Tournament (NIT).

The Huskers return to action on Friday, March 14, when NU takes on second-seeded Kansas at 6 p.m. The game will be seen on ESPN Plus (KLKN Channel 8 in Lincoln; KXVO Channel 15 in Omaha; KIIT in North Platte), ESPN FullCourt and ESPN360.com.

After a slow start, Missouri picked up steam while running to a 12-8 lead behind 3-pointers from Matt Lawrence and Keon Lawrence before the Huskers started to gain command of the contest. Nebraska reeled off a 10-0 run on baskets from five different players, taking an 18-12 advantage on a Harley jumper at the 8:00 mark.

Missouri regained the lead with the long ball, hitting three treys over the next six minutes to extend the lead to 25-20 on Matt Lawrence's second 3-pointer with 2:54 to play. NU chipped away, tying the game twice before Steve Harley's jumper with less than a second remaining in the half gave Nebraska a 30-28 lead at the break.

Nebraska came out strong in the second half, with Ade Dagunduro scoring a pair of baskets in the first two minutes to help NU extend the lead to five points. Ryan Anderson's 3-pointer at the 14:48 mark put NU ahead by seven and Maric added a dunk 30 seconds later to force a Missouri timeout as the Huskers' lead grew to 41-32.

Dagunduro's third basket of the period with 12:51 to play gave Nebraska its biggest lead of the game at 10 points, 44-34. Missouri then started to turn the tables, chipping away at the Husker lead as Nebraska hit just two of its next seven shots from the floor. The Tigers took advantage, pulling within two, 51-49, on Leo Lyons' jumper with 6:12 remaining.

After the Huskers stretched the lead back to six, Missouri had one more run left, getting as close as 57-56 on Jason Horton's jumper with 2:13 to play. But Harley and Maric were too much down the stretch, combining for 15 straight points over an 11-minute stretch. Jay-R Strowbridge, who posted a pair of free throws to seal the game with eight seconds left, was the only Husker in the final 12 minutes score besides Harley and Maric.

Maric recorded his 14th double-double of the year and 12th in the last 13 games with a game-high 17 points and 13 rebounds. The 6-11, 275-pounder helped Nebraska to a 42-31 advantage on the glass, and he had four blocked shots.

Maric took just six shots, but made five while hitting 7-of-10 at the free throw stripe. Maric missed his first three trips to the charity stripe but connected on the final seven attempts.

As a team, the Huskers hit just 57.1 percent at the line, connecting on 12-of-21, while MU nailed 11-of-13 charity shots. Nebraska made up for it with solid shooting from the floor, hitting 46.9 percent (23-of-49), including draining 20-of-36 (55.6 percent) inside the arc.

Dagunduro finished with eight points while Anderson and Strowbridge each had seven. Anderson also posted seven rebounds, three assists and two steals for the Huskers. Keon Lawrence led MU with 15 points while Matt Lawrence had 12 and DeMarre Carroll added 10 points and eight rebounds.