Lincoln, Neb. – Pryce Sandfort tallied 20 points to lead the University of Nebraska to a 106-64 win over the Le Moyne College men's basketball team in the season opener for both teams on Monday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Fourth year forward
Trevor Roe (Syracuse, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius/Radford) registered career highs of 20 points, including 14 in the first half, six rebounds and six assists. Fourth year guard
Jayden Teat (Sacramento, Calif. Capital Christian Utah/Sacramento State) opened his Dolphins tenure with 14 points, 10 of which came in the second half, and a career-high five assists.
Sandfort, who was named to the Naismith Award Watch List earlier in the day, registered 16 of his 20 points in the first half, while adding five rebounds. Cale Jacobsen netted 14 of his 16 points in the first half and added four rebounds, three assists and three steals. Connor Essegian turned in 13 points over the final seven minutes of the game. Jacob Lanier and Damon Wilkinson each recorded 11 points off the bench.
Nebraska scored the first seven points of the game, but the Dolphins answered back with 12 of the next 15 points to take a 12-10 lead. Roe made a three-pointer, third year forward
Kaden Stuckey (Buffalo, N.Y./Orangeville Prep/VMI) converted a lay-up, second year forward
Ty Francis (Brooklyn, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School/Northeastern) drained a three-pointer, Teat made a lay-up and then Francis finished off a feed from Teat for the lead with 15:49 left.
After the Huskers answered with seven of the next nine points to take the lead back, Roe buried another three-pointer to tie the score for the final time.
Nebraska took the lead for good with 12 straight points. Wilkinson made four free throws in the span, while four others combined for eight points.
Following back-to-back three-pointers by Roe to get the Dolphins within 35-26 with 6:24 remaining in the half, the Cornhuskers scored 23 of the last 29 points of the half to take a 58-32 lead into the intermission. Jacobsen led the jaunt with 12 points, while Sandfort had nine and Lanier made a lay-up.
The teams went back and forth over the opening eight and one-half minutes of the second half with Nebraska's lead bouncing between 24 and 30 points and settling at 25, 73-48, on Roe's fifth three-pointer of the game.
Nebraska, specifically Taj Degourville, scored the next six points to extend its lead past 30 for the first time with 10:09 remaining.
The teams traded baskets over the next 4:13 and Teat got the Dolphins within 29 for the final time with his second straight three-pointer with 5:56 remaining.
The Huskers netted 16 of the last 19 points to deliver the final score. After Wilkinson made two free throws, Essegian scored 10 straight points on four free throws around a pair of three-pointers. Leo Curtis hit a three-pointer before Kadyn Betts made a free throw for the final point.
Le Moyne, which played in the state of Nebraska for the first time in the program's 78-year history, remains in the Cornhusker State to take on fellow Jesuit institution, Creighton University, on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. ET.
