BY: KALEB CENTER
CSC Sports Information Director
The University of Nebraska Cornhuskers capitalized on its advantages in the paint, and took advantage of bench depth, to top the Chadron State College Eagles 87-60 in an exhibition matchup in Lincoln on Sunday afternoon.
"Obviously, they're a Big Ten opponent," said CSC Head Men's Basketball Coach Shane Paben. "They were able to grab offensive rebounds and get points underneath the basket, just because of their sheer size. But we competed and gave great effort, and we were only down six just before the first media timeout of the second half. It was a great experience for the team the whole weekend."
The Huskers started slowly. CSC either led or was tied for the first five and a half minutes, thanks in part to a 1-for-5 opening rally by Nebraska.
CSC junior forward Porter Anderson got under the basket for a dunk in the game's opening score, assisted by senior wing MJ Foust, and junior transfer guard Bryce Latimer started 3-for-3 as part of a 9-for-15 start for the Eagles. CSC began rotating in reserves at the first media timeout, and continued looking at new lineups roughly every four minutes.
Nebraska broke out of its funk at 14:27 with a dunk by senior forward Derrick Walker giving the Huskers their first lead at 11-9. That spurred a 14-2 run which put the team ahead for good.
CSC kept the score manageable for the remainder of the first half, and went into halftime down 43-28.
Coming out of the midpoint break, the Eagles scored 10 of the first 11 points in the second half. Nebraska missed three of four free throws and its first three consecutive field goals, coming out of the gate cold once more. CSC cut the lead to 44-38 at the 16:30 mark.
The Huskers then recovered to hit more than half of their shots the rest of the way, while the Eagles shot just 33%. Nebraska, which started the game 2-for-16 from the three point line, finished 4-for-8 down the stretch and led by as many as 34, at 5:02 left in the game.
At that point both teams tried to get as many players in the game as possible, and the CSC reserves closed it to a 27-point spread.
Latimer and junior guard Freddy Reeves, Jr., finished with 12 and 10 points, respectively, while playing fewer than 20 minutes each. Junior guard Isaiah Wyatt led CSC with six boards.
The game high in scoring went to Nebraska's junior forward Juwan Gary, who also had a game-high nine rebounds. Senior guard Sam Griesel added 14 points.
On the boards, Nebraska led CSC 48 to 33, taking a 16-point advantage in the paint and a 15-point lead in second chance points. The difference was not as decisive on the offensive glass, where the Eagles managed to wrangle 13 balls to the opponents' 19.
"We have some things we can go back and work on, like untimely turnovers, but we're not going to see any team like that for the rest of the year, said Paben."
Scoring figures:
Chadron State—Bryce Latimer 12, Freddy Reeves, Jr. 10, Porter Anderson 9, Josh Robinson 7, Patrick McLachlan 6, Jarrett Taylor 6, Martin Poznanovic 4, Isaiah Wyatt 3, Marcus Jefferson 2, Chris Roberts 1. Totals: 24-63 (6-24) 6-11 60 points, 33 rebounds, 18 turnovers.
Nebraska—Juwan Gary 23, Sam Griesel 14, Emmanuel Bandoumel 9, Wilhelm Breidenbach 8, Derrick Walker, Jr. 6, Keisei Tominaga 5, Denim Dawson 4, Blaise Keita 4, Oleg Kojenets 3, Jamarques Lawrence 3, Ramel Lloyd, Jr. 3, CJ Wilcher 3, Sam Hoiberg 2. Totals: 33-70 (6-26) 15-21 87 points, 48 rebounds, 12 turnovers.
Chadron State 28 32 ----60
Nebraska 43 44 ----87
3-pointers: CSC—Reeves 2, Taylor 2, McLachlan 1, Wyatt 1. Nebraska—Gary 2, Bandoumel 1, Breidenbach 1, Lawrence 1, Wilcher 1.