Jamarques Lawrence scored a career-high 21 points and Braden Frager added 20 off the bench to lead Nebraska to an 84-72 win over New Mexico on Thursday night in the first round of the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Mo.
It was the ninth consecutive win for Nebraska (5-0) to extend the nation’s longest active win streak. The Cornhuskers will now face the winner of Kansas State/Mississippi State in Friday’s final.
Lawrence, who returned to Nebraska after a season at Rhode Island, was 6 of 9 from the field and 4 of 7 from 3, while Frager was 6 of 8 and 4 of 6, respectively.
Rienk Mast added 17 for Nebraska, which hit 13 3-pointers but also turned it over a season-high 18 times.
New Mexico (3-2) played most of the game without senior guard Deyton Albury, who was ejected with 1:38 left in the first half after picking up a Flagrant 2 foul for punching Nebraska’s Connor Essegian in the back of the head. Freshman Jake Hall led the way with a career-high 20 for the Lobos, who play the Kansas State/Mississippi State loser in Friday’s consolation game.
Nebraska led 43-25 at the half but the Lobos cut that margin to 10 three minutes into the second half. A 3-pointer by Hall got New Mexico within 48-41 with 15:37 left.
Luke Haupt’s 3 made it a 51-47 game with 12:31 to go but the Cornhuskers then held New Mexico to three field goals over the next six minutes, allowing them to extend the lead back to 13.
A game after falling behind 10-0, Nebraska jumped out to an 11-2 lead fewer than three minutes in. The Cornhuskers made it 25-7 with 11:04 left in the first half on a Frager 3-pointer, building the lead to 20 before the under-8 media timeout.
New Mexico followed that with a 12-3 run to get within 36-25 with 4:35 left before halftime but then didn’t score the rest of the half and saw Albury ejected along the way.
