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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 17, 1995)
NU crowd helps keep Huskers alive in NIT By Mitch Sherman Senior Reporter Had it not been for the 8,040 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Thursday night, Nebraska’s season would probably be over, Comhusker coach Danny Nee said. As it now stands, the 18-13 Huskers, who downed Georgia 69-61 in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament, are still breath ing. With the victory, Nebraska’s first postseason win since an NIT victory over Arkansas State in 1989, the Huskers advance to play Penn State in the second round. Nebraska officials said Thurs day that the game would be Monday or Tuesday night at the Devaney Center. “I can’t say enough,” Nee said of the Husker faithful. “Part of this belongs to them, because they came in and they didn’t let us die. It’s not the loudest crowd that we’ve had, but they stayed with us.” Nebraska guard Erick Strickland, who scored 17 of his team-high 21 points in the first half, said the fans at the Devaney Center on Thursday night were “true.” “They are probably as loud as the fans that have ever been here,” said Strickland, who left the game for two minutes in the second half after bruising his left leg. “That’s a tribute to them. They were great.” Georgia, which was led by guard Shandon Anderson, who scored 22 points, fell to 18-10. The Bulldogs led Nebraska the entire first half, opening a 13-point lead with 11:50 to play before halftime. But the Huskers chippe'd away, eventually cutting the lead to three points at 40-37 just before end of the first half. Without Strickland, who scored eight straight Nebraska points dur ing one stretch, Nee said the Huskers could have been blown out. “My teammates were getting me open,” said Strickland, who also pulled down 10 rebounds and contributed four assists. “I was just getting into the paint and getting rebounds. It was all coming. I don’t think I was overlooking any thing. It just sort of happened.” See WIN on 8 Georgia’s Durham credits Huskers’ transition game By Derek Samson Senior Reporter Georgia coach Hugh Durham knew that it was coming, but he didn’t know how to stop it. Durham said the 17-4 Nebraska run at the end of the game sealed the Comhuskers’ 69-61 win over Georgia in the first round of the Na tional Invitation Tournament. Durham saw the run as nothing more than inevitable. “You’re playinga Big Eight team that’s been to the NCAA Tournament four out of the last five years and have a lot of experience,” Durham said. “You have to know that they’re going to make a run. You have to be ready for it. It’s nip and-tuck the whole second half and then they go on the run and we don’t do anything about it.” Georgia jumped out to a 22-9 lead and led by three at halftime. The Bulldogs, however, shot only 20 percent in the second half and scored only one point in the final 5:11. “If you only make seven of 34 shots in the second half, you’re going to have a tough time winning,” Durham said. “When you never put the ball in the basket, the defense has to regroup on the run. When the ball goes through the net, you’ve got a chance to get back and set up a defense. “Nebraska does a good job of running tran sition and we knew that coming in. They did it and had some success with it. But 7 of 34 isn’t going to win many games.” Durham said the only way Georgia stayed in the game in the second halfwas Nebraska’s lack of offense, which he credited to the Bulldogs defense. Nebraska shot 41 percent from the field for the game, but made only 2 of 21 from 3-point range. “Look at their center (Mikki Moore). He’s averaging six or seven (7.6 points a game) and he gets 12,” Durham said. “Why is that? Tran sition, plus the fact that we’re out there trying to guard (Jaron) Boone and (Erick) Strickland. See BULLDOGS on 8 Scott Bruhn/DN Nebraska’s Mikki Moore comes down after a dunk that tied the game at 46 against Georgia. Moore scored 12points to lead the Huskerstoa69-61 winover the Bulldogs in the first round of the NIT Thursday night. Nebraska sets Big 8 record for stolen bases in win Jay Calderon/DN Nebraska’s Jed Dalton steals third base during the Huskers’ game against UNO Thursday afternoon. Dalton had four steals in the Huskers’ 12-6 win. Nebraska as a team stole a Big Eight-record 13 bases. By Jeff Griesch Senior Reporter The Nebraska baseball team ran over UNO in a 12-6 win at Buck Beltzer Field Thursday. The Comhuskers, 7-6, set a Big Eight record with 13 stolen bases against the Mavericks. Nebraska had stolen only six bases in 12 games entering the game with the Mavericks, 5-1, but the Huskers ran on University of Nebraska at Omaha catcher Tim Hallett’s arm all afternoon. Senior third baseman Jed Dalton stole four bases to head the list of seven Huskers with at least one steal. Eugene Jenkins, Patrick Johnson and Todd Sears each stole two bases, and Alvie Shepherd, Darin Erstad and Mel Motley added one stolen base each. The Huskers also pounded out 13 hits against four UNO pitchers. Nebraska coach John Sanders said he was glad to see the Huskers’ of fense putting runs on the board. “We did some good things offen sively today,” Sanders said. “We took advantage of their mistakes. We had timely hits with runners on base. And we scored some runs.” And runs have not been easy for the Huskers to come by so far this season. See UNO on 8