Nebraska beats Loyola Marymount 50-42 in OT

HONOLULU (AP) It was far from pretty, but Tim Miles will take it anyway.

Terran Petteway scored seven of his game-high 17 points in overtime as Nebraska edged Loyola Marymount 50-42 in a consolation game of the Diamond Head Classic on Tuesday.

Petteway, a 6-foot-6 junior, scored 11 points after halftime, Shavon Shields had 13, and Walter Pitchford added 10 for the Cornhuskers (7-4).

The game was tied at 35 at the end of regulation. Loyola Marymount took a 37-35 lead early in the extra period, but Nebraska scored the next 10 points, including a pair of Petteway 3-pointers, and made five of six free throws in the final 31 seconds.

''The 3's were big, but really as a team we stuck through it. That was a tough game,'' Petteway said. ''They were not going to beat themselves so we had to come out and beat them. We turned the ball over a lot but we still stayed together and played great defense and played team basketball.''

LMU shot a 28 percent from the field, while Nebraska shot 37 percent.

''Well, what a grind. We struggled scoring and our confidence is down,'' said Miles, the third-year coach of the Cornhuskers. ''We had such a dry run in the second half and we had guys questioning their shot but you can't major in history. You can't worry about what happened four possessions ago, that you had a good look and you missed it. You've got to stay in the moment and keep playing great and that's what Petteway did tonight. That's why I thought he was so big down the stretch.''

Ayodeji Egbeyemi was the lone scorer in double figures for the Lions (3-8) with 16 points. Godwin Okonji grabbed 10 rebounds. It was Loyola Marymount's sixth consecutive loss.

Nebraska held a 21-16 lead at halftime.

The Lions had two chances to break a 35-all tie in the final 16 seconds of regulation, but Payne missed a 3-pointer - which was rebounded by Okonji - then missed a 14-foot jumper in the closing seconds to send it to overtime.

Payne, who entered the game averaging 21 points per game, was held to seven points on 2-of-13 shooting from the field, including 0 of 7 on 3-pointers, while dealing with some muscle tightness in his left thigh.

It was the first time this season that Payne did not lead the Lions in scoring.

Loyola Marymount's 16-first half points were the lowest in the six-year history of the tournament. The previous mark was 18 by USC against Western Michigan in 2009.

There were seven ties and five lead changes in the game.

It was the second meeting between the teams. The last time they faced off was in the Utah Classic in Salt Lake City in 1980 and resulted in a 67-66 Nebraska win.

TIP-INS

Loyola Marymount: The Lions held the rebounding advantage, 40-22, including a 16-2 edge on offensive rebounds, but managed just four second-half points. ''They are long, they have long bigs, long athletic wings, so we just had to keep getting our bodies up on them, but they did a great job on the offensive glass but we were lucky enough to get the win at the end,'' Terran Petteway said.

Nebraska: The Cornhuskers forced 20 turnovers, but could only convert those into 10 points.

OFFENSIVE FUTILITY

Both teams set a new tournament record-low for field goals with 14 apiece. The previous mark was 15 by Hawaii against UNLV in 2009.

The Cornhuskers also took just 38 shot attempts from the field, which broke the previous tournament low of 43 by UTEP against Clemson in 2011.

UP NEXT

Loyola Marymount will play DePaul in the seventh-place game Thursday.

Nebraska will meet Ohio for fifth place on Thursday.