Juwan Gary scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds as Nebraska earned a 79-69 victory over Boise State and advanced to the championship game of the inaugural College Basketball Crown tournament Saturday at Las Vegas.
Gary went 4-for-4 from 3-point range for the Cornhuskers (20-14), who went 12 of 19 from long range as a team. Brice Williams, who led the Big Ten in scoring at 20.5 points, chipped in 14 points, five rebounds and six assists, while Sam Hoiberg scored 10 points.
Nebraska will face UCF in Sunday’s title game. The Knights beat Villanova 104-98 in overtime in the other semifinal contest.
Tyson Degenhart poured in 26 points to go along with eight rebounds for Boise State (26-11) and became the program’s single-season leader in points (677) just a few days after crossing the 2,000-point mark in his career.
Andrew Meadow finished with 14 points and Pearson Carmichael added 13 for the Broncos, who averaged 94.5 points per game in the first two contests of the tournament.
Up six at the half, Nebraska surged ahead by double digits when Hoiberg connected from long range and gave the Cornhuskers a 46-35 lead with 17:55 to go.
Boise State pulled within 64-56 at the 7:40 mark on a layup by Javan Buchanan but Nebraska quickly got the lead back to double digits an were up 74-59 with 4:48 left after a Williams layup.
The two teams were playing for the first time ever and vying for the right to secure a guarantee of $100,000 in NIL money for making the championship game. The champion will acquire $300,000. Boise State earned $50,000.
Pearson Carmichael buried back-to-back 3-pointers to give Boise State a 13-8 lead with 14:57 to go in the opening half.
Nebraska tied it when Williams drilled a 3-pointer that evened the score at 13-13 with 13:29 left in the half. The Cornhuskers cooled off, missing nine consecutive shots, while the Broncos pushed ahead 24-17 with 7:57 left after Carmichael made a 3-pointer.
Nebraska got right back in the game, ending a stretch of more than six minutes without a field goal as Hoiberg and Gary hit back-to-back 3-pointers that pulled the Cornhuskers within one at 26-25.
Nebraska used a 15-1 run to take control, grabbing its first lead at 29-27 on a layup by Gary with 4:52 remaining, and taking a 39-33 advantage into halftime.
–Field Level Media
