Missouri makes it three in a row with road win

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Missouri players were buzzing about how the Tigers' 56-53 win over Nebraska was a key victory for a team that hadn't won a road game this season going into Saturday's game.

But Missouri coach Quin Snyder was more philosophical when asked about the come-from-behind win.

"That gorilla's been standing on my back for two years," Snyder said. "That's OK. They can hang out there. We've got to get stronger."

Missouri (13-13, 5-8 Big 12) trailed by as many as nine in the first half and never led by more than five in taking its first win in 10 games on the road this season. Nebraska (11-12, 4-8) has now lost eight of its last 10 conference games.

"That was a huge win for us," said Marshall Brown, who hit a pair of key 3-pointers and a powerful dunk in the Tigers second-half surge. "I think we can really get on a roll now. We haven't got one all year. It's big when you can get one on the road where it's just us."

Missouri trailed by eight early in the second half but put together a 9-2 run to take a 42-37 lead on Kevin Young's tip-in with 11:08 left.

"They were really knocking down perimeter shots early in the second half," said Nebraska coach Barry Collier. "I thought that stretch was the difference in the game."

Nebraska cut the lead to one on Joe McCray's 3-pointer with 6:35 left that made the score 45-44.

But the Tigers stayed in front, matching Nebraska basket for basket for the next four minutes. A McCray 3-pointer pulled Nebraska back within one at 52-51 with 2:16 left. But McCray missed the first free throw in a one-and-one opportunity with 1:34 that could have given the Huskers the lead.

Young's jumper off a drive in the lane put the Tigers up 54-51 with 1:15 left. McCray missed another free throw, but Nebraska's Aleks Maric pulled down the rebound and hit a hook shot in the lane.

Linas Kleiza hit a pair of free throws with 35 seconds remaining to put Missouri up 56-53. McCray missed a pair of 3-pointers on Nebraska's next possession.

Jason Horton missed the front end of a one-and-one for Missouri with 9 seconds left that could have put the game away. But Nebraska's Marcus Neal Jr. forced up a shot from the 3-point line that failed to hit the rim.

"They're a hard team at home," Horton said. "We had to stay focused. We just had to stay efficient offensively and defensively."

Nebraska got in front by holding Missouri without a field goal for more than six minutes late in the first half. The Huskers put up 11 unanswered points during that stretch capped by Maric's 8-foot jumpshot that made the score 23-14 with 3:05 left in the half.

Snyder said he didn't get after his team at halftime.

"I didn't rant and rave at halftime," he said. "I thought we'd played better than we'd looked. I felt we were close. They were able to keep competing. That's what we talked about at half, trying to be men."

Missouri hit 54 percent of its field goals in the second half compared with 40 percent in the first half. The Tigers were 4 of 9 from 3-point range in the second half.

In comparison, Nebraska hit just 38 percent of its shots in the second half and was just 2 of 12 on 3-point attempts.