Huskers Catch Fire in Second Half to Defeat Lions

Lincoln - Sophomore guard Brandon Richardson matched his career high with 15 points and the Husker defense forced 20 turnovers as the Nebraska basketball team (12-3) ended in its non-conference slate with a 77-59 victory over Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday night at the Devaney Center.

With the win, Nebraska tallied 12 non-conference victories, the third-highest total in school history and became the quickest team to reach the dozen-win mark since the 1990-91 squad did so on Dec. 30 of its record-breaking season.

Hot 3-point shooting in the second half allowed the Huskers to pull away from the Lions, with NU hitting an impressive 7-of-8 3-pointers in the game's final 20 minutes. The shooting exhibition guided Nebraska to its largest lead of 23 points at 75-52 with just under two minutes remaining.

Earlier, Southeastern Louisiana had closed Nebraska's double-digit lead to eight with 13 minutes left in the second half, before seniors Ryan Anderson and Sek Henry each knocked down a pair of treys to help the Huskers pull away from the Lions. Henry's 3-pointer at the 12:09 mark snapped a quick 7-0 run by the Lions that nearly cut a 15-point deficit in half. Ray Gallegos and Brandon Ubel added baskets before Anderson nailed the first of his second-half 3-pointers, pushing Nebraska back ahead by 15 with 8:27 to play.

Anderson finished the night with 14 points in 19 minutes, including 3-of-4 from downtown to move the Seattle native into sixth place on Nebraska's career 3-point field goal chart with 147. It was his team-high ninth double-figure scoring game of the season, as he leads the Huskers into Big 12 action with a team-high 11.4 points-per-game average.

Richardson scored 11 of his game-high 15 points in the first stanza to lead the Huskers to an 11-point halftime advantage. He had six of Nebraska's first 11 points as, after missing his first attempt from downtown in the opening seconds, he drained his next two long-range tries to push Nebraska out to an 11-8 cushion.

Southeastern Louisiana attempted 14 3-pointers in the first half, hitting six to stay within striking distance. Nebraska overcame the Lions' shooting as Richardson then gave NU a 24-15 lead with 7:04 remaining when Eshaunte Jones found him slashing to the basket for an easy left-handed lay-up.

The Huskers held the double-digit lead, 32-22, after Richardson hit his final of three first-half treys with four minutes left and they never looked back. Nebraska finished the game 27-of-59 from the field (46 percent) and 12-of-19 from 3-point range (63 percent).

Nebraska will hit the road for its league opener as it travels to Texas A&M this Saturday for a contest televised on the Big 12 Network at 3 p.m.  Four conference teams are ranked in this week's AP Top 25 (No. 1 Kansas, No. 2 Texas, No. 11 Kansas State and No. 22 Texas Tech), while Texas A&M (27) and Oklahoma State (42) are receiving votes.