Jan 5, 2002
By R.B. FALLSTROM
AP Sports Writer
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - Clarence Gilbert hit five 3-pointers and scored 17 points Saturday, helping No. 17 Missouri overcome 37 percent shooting and beat Nebraska 60-53 in a Big 12 opener.
Missouri (11-3) won despite another poor game from preseason All-American Kareem Rush, who was 3-for-13 and scored eight points - 11 below his average.
Arthur Johnson and Wesley Stokes each added 11 points for the Tigers, who have won two straight since a three-game losing streak in December that dropped them from No. 2.
Stokes, the point guard, tied Johnson, a 6-foot-9 center, for the team lead in rebounds with seven.
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VIDEO: Missouri's Arthur Johnson runs the court and finishes with the monster slam. 56k | 100k | 300k
VIDEO: The Tigers' Kareem Rush feeds Travon Bryant, who gets the dunk and the foul.
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Gilbert also struggled with his shot, going 5-for-15, but hit at a 50 percent clip from 3-point range. He hit consecutive 3s at the start of an 11-0 run that pulled Missouri from three points down to a 44-36 lead with 11:34 to go.
Nebraska (7-5) narrowed the gap to three at 53-50 on a 3-pointer by John Robinson with 3:42 left. The Cornhuskers, who have lost five of six, did not score again until Cary Cochran hit a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left to make it 58-53.
Rush is averaging 19.2 points. He had 23 points on 8-for-14 shooting in a victory over Coppin State on Wednesday, but during Missouri's losing streak he was just 15-for-51.
Cochran had 12 points and Jake Muhleisen 10 for Nebraska, which also shot 37 percent. The Cornhuskers are 0-6 in Big 12 openers, including three of the last four at Missouri.
Nebraska, 7-1 at home but 0-4 on the road this season, has opened conference play on the road all six times.
Missouri scored the game's first seven points and later had a 9-2 run, but led only 30-25 at the half because of 37 percent shooting and five turnovers by Johnson. Gilbert was 3-for-10 and Rush 2-6 at the break.