HONOLULU (AP) — Andrew Morgan scored 12 points and grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds, Connor Essegian hit five 3-pointers and added 15 points Sunday night and Nebraska beat Murray State 66-49 at the Diamond Head Classic.
Nebraska (8-2) plays the winner between Charlotte and host Hawaii in the second round on Monday. The Racers take on the loser in the consolation bracket.
Murray State (6-5) missed its first eight shots and started the game shooting 1 of 16 from the field.
Juwan Gary made a jumper to open the scoring with 18:44 left in the first half and Nebraska led the rest of the way. The 6-foot-6 senior converted a traditional three-point play about 4 minutes later that sparked a 16-0 that made it 22-4 when Brice Williams stole a pass from Jacobi Wood and went the other way for a layup with 9:05 remaining the first.
Kylen Milton made back-to-back 3s, was fouled and the second and hit the and-1 free throw to complete the four-point play to cut Murray State’s deficit to 11 a little more than a minute later. Essegian answered with a 3-pointer 24 seconds later and then hit another from behind as the Cornhuskers scored 12 of the final 15 points to take a 34-14 lead into halftime.
Milton led Murray State with 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting — including a high-flying dunk along the baseline with a little more than 10 minutes to play. The rest of the Racers players combined to shoot 25% (10 of 40) from the field.
Rollie Worster scored 11 points for Nebraska.
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