Brice Williams and reserve Connor Essegian scored 21 points apiece and Nebraska knocked off UCF 77-66 on Sunday to win the inaugural College Basketball Crown tournament at Las Vegas.
Juwan Gary added 20 points and eight rebounds to help the Cornhuskers (21-14) recover from a 14-point, second-half deficit.
Jordan Ivy-Curry scored a season-high 29 points off the bench and Nils Machowski added 13 points, six rebounds and three steals for the Knights (20-17).
UCF’s Darius Johnson had four points on 1-of-11 shooting while playing on a tender hamstring that he hurt on Saturday while scoring a career-high 42 points. He scored 73 points in the Knights’ previous two games.
Williams set the school Nebraska single-season record of 713 points.
As the winner of the 16-team tournament, the Cornhuskers receive $300,000 in NIL money. UCF receives $100,000.
Nebraska shot 47.5 percent from the field, including 9 of 21 from 3-point range.
The Knights made 39.7 percent of their attempts but were a lowly 7 of 29 from behind the arc. Moustapha Thiam contributed nine points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots.
UCF scored the final two points of the first half to start a 16-0 burst that saw it take a 49-35 lead. A 3-pointer by Tyler Hendricks capped it with 14:55 left in the contest.
Nebraska scored its first points of the second half 19 seconds later when Gary scored on a layup. That started a run of 11 straight points and 24 of 27 as the Cornhuskers took a seven-point advantage.
Gary had nine points during the 11-0 burst to bring Nebraska within 49-46 with 12:19 left. Ivy-Curry drained a trey for the Knights to make it a six-point game before Essegian drained two 3-pointers within 33 seconds to tie it at 52 with 11:04 left.
Andrew Morgan threw down two rim-rattling dunks in 22 seconds as the Cornhuskers took a 56-52 lead with 9:26 remaining. Essegian added a 3-pointer nearly two minutes later to give Nebraska a seven-point lead.
Baskets by Essegian, Cole Jacobsen and Morgan gave the Cornhuskers a 71-59 lead with 2:35 to play.
Ivy-Curry scored five straight points as UFC moved within seven with 1:53 left but Nebraska held off the charge.
Nebraska led for more than 16 minutes of the first half but the score was tied at 35 at the break.
Williams had 15 first-half points for the Cornhuskers and Ivy-Curry had 15 in the half for UCF.
A 3-pointer by Essegian gave the Cornhuskers a 23-11 advantage with 10:21 remaining in the half before UCF fought back to tie it.
–Field Level Media
