December 22, 2015

----------------------------- 
               1   2   total 
Prairie View  28  22    50 
NEBRASKA      31  50    81 
----------------------------- 

Lincoln, Neb. — Tai Webster scored six of his 10 points in an 18-2 second-half run, as Nebraska built a big early lead and lost it briefly before pulling away from Prairie View A&M, 81-50, Tuesday evening at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Webster keyed the run after Prairie View A&M erased an 18-point first-half deficit, taking a 34-33 lead after Tevin Bellinger's jumper with 17:33 remaining.

Benny Parker's 3-pointer from the corner with 16:57 left started the run, as Nebraska turned up the defensive pressure, recording five steals and holding the Panthers without a field goal for a stretch of 5:43.

Webster, who came off the bench for the first time all season, had three of NU's steals and six points helping Nebraska build a 51-36 lead with 12:08 remaining.

Nebraska, which shot 56 percent in the second half, pulled away, using a 22-7 run to salt the game away and led by as many as 32 points in the final minutes.

Shavon Shields and Andrew White III tied for game-high honors, finishing with 19 points apiece for Nebraska, which improved to 8-5 on the season. White hit 8-of-11 shots from the field and added five rebounds. Shields did most of his damage at the line, going 9-of-10 from the charity stripe and adding four assists and five rebound, as no Husker played more than 28 minutes.

Nebraska started quickly behind the play of Parker, who scored five early points to help the Huskers jump out to a 10-2 lead. Nebraska was in control for the first 13 minutes and used an 8-0 run to build a 26-8 lead after a pair of Shields free throws with 7:06 remaining.

Parker finished with eight points, four assists and a pair of steals.

Prairie View A&M roared right back behind the play of Karim York and Zachary Hamilton, who combined for 13 points as part of a 16-0 run to pull within 26-26 after Hamilton's layup with 2:54 left in the half.

NU, which committed nine turnovers in the half, broke the dryspell with a pair of Shields free throws with 2:06 left in the half before a 3-pointer from Andrew White III pushed the lead back to five in the final minute of the half.

York led Prairie View A&M (0-11) with 16 points and five rebounds, as the Panthers were held to 34 percent shooting, including 25 percent in the second half. Hamilton had 13 points to join York in double figures.

The Huskers will take a few days off for Christmas before returning to begin preparations for NU's Big Ten opener on Wednesday, Dec. 30, when the Huskers host Northwestern at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. and holiday break tickets are available by visiting Huskers.com/Tickets or calling the NU Athletics Ticketing Office at 800-8-BIGRED.