A free-throw by Sam Hoiberg with less than one second to go gave the Nebraska men’s basketball team an 86-85 win over Kansas State Friday in the finals of the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Mo.
Pryce Sandfort led the Huskers with 21 points on 8-for-17 shooting, including five three-pointers. Rienk Mast tallied 20, while Braden Frager scored 16 on seven-of-10 shooting and Hoiberg contributed 13. The Wildcats were led by PJ Haggerty’s 27 points on 11-of-21 shooting. Abdi Bashir, Jr., scored 26 points and Nate Johnson tallied 12. NU outshot K-State, 54 percent to 44 percent, but struggled from three-point range, hitting eight-for-32 compared to the Cats 12-for-35.
Nebraska, prone to slow starts this year, had early control in this one. The Huskers built a 19-7 lead with 13:38 to go in the first half. A 7-0 run capped by a Hoiberg layup opened the lead to 27-12 with 9:44 to play until halftime. The Wildcats chipped away at the Nebraska advantage, but NU took a 45-35 lead to the halftime locker room.
K-State stormed out of the locker room in the second half, going on an 11-0 run to take a 46-45 lead with 17 minutes to go in the game. The second half was hotly contested from there, with neither team holding larger than a five-point lead the remainder of the game. A 5-0 Nebraska run gave the Huskers a 50-46 lead with 16:28 remaining, but KSU quickly cut the lead and the game stayed within one possession until a Haggerty layup put the Wildcats up, 72-67. But that was immediately answered by a 9-0 Nebraska run that gave NU a 76-72 lead with five minutes remaining.
The final five minutes were played with neither team holding more than a three-point lead. A three-pointer by Sandfort with 2:28 to go put the Huskers ahead, 81-80, but K-State answered with a three-point play by PJ Haggerty, putting the Wildcats ahead, 83-81 with two minutes to go. A put-back by Hoiberg tied the game at 83 with 1:36 to go. Nebraska held defensively on its next possession, and Mast hit a layup with 35 seconds left to put the Huskers ahead, 85-83. Haggerty hit a layup on the ensuing possession to tie the game at 85 with 27 seconds to go. The Huskers ran down the clock for the final shot in regulation. Sandfort missed a three, but Hoiberg skied for the rebound and was fouled with 0.6 seconds appearing on the clock. Hoiberg went to the free-throw line, made the first free throw, then intentionally missed the second. Johnson snagged the rebound for the Wildcats, who called timeout. During the timeout, time was added to the clock, putting 0.9 seconds on the clock. But the Husker defense held and the Huskers held on to win.
The current 10-game winning streak by Nebraska leads the nation and is the longest by the Huskers since 2010-11. It’s just the 11th 10-or-more-game winning streak in program history. Nebraska is next in action Tuesday against Winthrop at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Tipoff is 7:30 p.m., with pregame coverage at 6:30 p.m. on KLIN.