Nebraska bounces back, holds off Southern, 81-76

(AP) Jeriah Horne scored 13 of his career-high 18 points in the second half and hit the game-clinching jumper to carry Nebraska to an 81-76 win over Southern on Tuesday night.

Nebraska (6-6) led by as many as nine in the first half, but saw Southern (4-8) take a four-point lead early in the second half. The Huskers took the lead for good with an 8-0 run, capped by a pair of Anton Gill free throws with 9:14 remaining.

The Jaguars cut the lead to four, at 63-59, and a Horne 3-pointer put Nebraska back up by seven with 6:50 remaining. Southern came back to within three and Horne countered with a jumper to give Nebraska a 68-63 lead.

Horne's 3-pointer with 3:45 left gave the Huskers a 73-65 lead and Nebraska led by 10 with two minutes left before Southern hit three straight baskets, closing to 77-73 on Shawn Prudhomme's breakaway layup with 45 seconds to go.

Horne drained a jumper with 14 seconds left to put Nebraska back up by six. Emanuel Sheperd's 3 pointer with four seconds remaining pulled the Jaguars back within three. Glynn Watson Jr. hit a pair of free throws with a second left to seal the win.

Watson had 13 for Nebraska and Gill and Tai Webster finished with 10 points each.

Trelun Banks led Southern (4-8) with 16 points, Shepard had 15 points, Prudhomme had 14 and Jared Sam had 13.

BIG PICTURE

Nebraska: The Huskers, who made just 3 of 17 3 pointers in a 70-62 loss to Gardner-Webb Sunday, made 7 of 22 from behind the arc Tuesday. Horne was 4 of 6, while his teammates were 3 of 16.

Southern: The Jaguars played eight of their first 12 games on the road, losing seven of them. The only road win came at Florida A&M, an 83-71 victory on Dec. 3.

UP NEXT

Nebraska opens Big Ten conference play at Indiana on Jan. 28.

Southern opens SWAC play by hosting Southeastern Louisiana on Jan. 28.