Friday, November 29, 2013

Creighton advances in The Wooden Legacy with opening round win; while Iowa wins in Battle 4 Atlantis on Thanksgiving




GoCreighton.com
FULLERTON, Calif. -- Devin Brooks had 23 points off the bench and Doug McDermott added 27 as No. 20/18 Creighton routed previously unbeaten Arizona State by an 88-60 score to open play at the DirecTV Wooden Legacy on Thursday night.

Creighton improved to 5-0, while Arizona State fell to 6-1. Creighton advances to play San Diego State on Friday at 8:30 pm Central in a winner's bracket game. The Aztecs defeated College of Charleston, 72-52, earlier in the day.

Iowa Rallies Past Xavier in OT

NASSAU, Bahamas -- It's not about how you start, but how you finish. The University of Iowa men's basketball team overcame a 15-point second half deficit to down Xavier, 77-74, in overtime in its first game in the Battle 4 Atlantis.


MBB_rising_201314"With the team we have out there, we're so deep and versatile, we're in any game, whether we're down 20 at home or down 10," said junior Gabriel Olaseni. "We always have the ability to come back because we have so many guys and coach trusts us.

"We always thought we could win this game."

Senior Roy Devyn Marble scored 30 points to lead Iowa to a 77-74 overtime victory over Xavier.
Senior Roy Devyn Marble
 scored 30 points to lead
 Iowa to a 77-74 overtime victory over Xavier.
After ending regulation tied at 69, the Hawkeyes took their first lead via a pair of Olaseni free throws. The Muskateers knotted the game at 73 on a fast-break layup by Justin Martin with 2:21 remaining, but sophomore Mike Gesell had a quick answer, putting the Hawkeyes back on top with a short floater just 14 seconds later.

1st2ndOTFinal
#23 Iowa (6-0)3039877
Xavier (5-1)
3732574
• Box Score Get Acrobat Reader  |  Attendance: 2,258
 Statistical Leaders
 •Roy Devyn Marble - 30 points, 10-23 FG, 4-10 3PT
 •Zach McCabe - 11 points, 3 rebounds
 •Gabriel Olaseni - 10 points, 11 rebounds, 8-9 FT
 Stats at a GlanceIOWAXU
 FG Percentage35.339.1
 3-Point FG Percentage26.125.0
 FT Percentage67.664.3
 Total Rebounds4549
 Points in the Paint2938
 Points off Turnovers2219
An Aaron White put-back layup following a pair of Hawkeye misses made the score 77-73 with 1:34 remaining before Xavier's James Farr made 1-of-2 from the charity stripe to make it a three-point game with 1:17 left. Iowa survived three Muskateer 3-point attempts in the final 10 seconds to hold on for its sixth win to start the season.

Senior Roy Devyn Marble scored a season-high 30 points -- one shy of a career-high -- making 10-of-23 field goal attempts and four 3-pointers. The guard made just 6-of-11 free throw attempts before sitting the final six minutes because of severe cramping.

"The thing I liked about him was how aggressive he was from the start," said UI head coach Fran McCaffery. "We were clearly sideways offensively, and we couldn't get anything to fall, couldn't get a 3 to fall, were fumbling the ball and got down 11-2. It didn't seem like it was going to be our night offensively. Then he puts us on his back and goes for 30."

Senior Zach McCabe scored 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting, White scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds, and Olaseni notched a his first career double-double, finishing with 10 points and 11 rebounds. He was 8-of-9 from the free throw line.
"Everybody that was out there contributed," said Marble. "I knew they were going to get it done, even though I went out. I told them to keep being aggressive."

Iowa shot 35.3 percent from the field, making 24-of-68 attempts. The Hawkeyes went 6-of-23 (26.1 percent) from 3-point range and was 23-of-34 (67.6 percent) from the free throw line.
Xavier shot 39.1 percent (25-of-64) from the floor, 6-of-24 (25 percent) from long range and 64.3 percent (18-of-28) from the free throw stripe. The Muskateers won the rebounding battle, 49-45, but committed 19 turnovers. Justin Martin paced Xavier with 15 points, and he was one of four Muskaeteers in double digits.
Xavier led 37-30 at the break and extended its lead to 41-30 a minute into the second half. The Muskateers pushed their lead to a game-high 15 points (47-32) on a three-point play by Semaj Christon with 15:56 remaining and led 55-42 with 12:13 to go.

"In the huddle there was no panic," said McCaffery. "There was 15:56 to go, so there was plenty of time (left). We just have to keep chipping away at it. It can't go from 15-to-22; it has to go from 15-to-8. That's what happened."

With 10 minutes to play, Marble drained a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 10 (55-45) and ignite a 12-0 Hawkeye run to cut the lead to 55-54 with 7:21 to play. White followed with a fast-break dunk and Marble hit a second triple to make the score 55-50. Two Marble free throws cut the lead to three before senior Melsahn Basabe's fast-break dunk made it a one-point game.

Iowa trimmed the lead to one point a second time (60-59) before clawing its way back to even the game at 67 via a Gesell jumper with 1:41 to play. After two Isaiah Philmore free throws put the Muskateers back on top, an Olaseni layup evened the game at 69 with 54 seconds to play.

Xavier missed two layups before turning the ball over on its final possession of regulation, giving the Hawkeyes the ball with 24 seconds to play. Iowa went to McCabe, but his shot was blocked by Matt Stainbrook with six seconds to go, sending the game to overtime.

Iowa came out of the gates slow, falling behind 11-2 to start the game. The Hawkeyes trailed 37-30 at the half, and Xavier added to its lead with two free throws and the ball before a second came off the clock in the second half when McCaffery was whistled for a technical foul heading into the locker room at the break.

"Last year, I don't think we would have been able to pull (a game like this) out," said Marble. "I was on the bench and I told the guys these are the games we have to win. When we came out, they were ready to finish the game."

The Hawkeyes (6-0) will face the winner of the Tennessee/UTEP game Saturday at 6 p.m. (CT). The game can be seen live on the NBC Sports Network.

Creighton Feasts On Sun Devils at Wooden Legacy

Arizona State scored first before Creighton answered with a 7-0 run that included hoops from McDermott, Will Artino and Jahenns Manigat. McDermott continued his hot hand, scoring 10 of CU's next 13 points as the Jays built up a 20-9 lead. Two more buckets from Brooks made it 24-9 at the second media timeout, an eerie similarity to last season's 27-9 hot start by the Bluejays.

The Sun Devils fought back, getting a trio of three-pointers during a 9-0 run to close within 30-24 before Brooks took over. The reserve guard helped bring CU's offense back to life, scoring the next eight points, to allow the Jays to extend its lead back to double-figures.

Creighton would lead 45-31 at the break, getting 16 points from McDermott and 13 more from Brooks. The Jays shot 55.2 percent in the opening half, including 5-of-9 from beyond the arc, and outrebounded ASU 19-17. ASU was led by nine points by Jahii Carson in the first half.

Manigat buried a three-pointer on CU's first possession of the second half, Austin Chatman followed with two foul shots, and Manigat a reverse lay-up to make it 52-31 with 18:08 to play. ASU quickly sliced the deficit in half, scoring the next 10 points in a span of 1:49, to make it 52-41.

Just as he did in the first half, Brooks rose to the occasion off the bench. The Harlem, N.Y., native scored seven points in just over a minute, pushing CU's lead to 61-42 and forcing a Sun Devil timeout.

Creighton continued to apply pressure, as Wragge had a pair of three-pointers surrounded by four McDermott points as the lead reached 73-51 with 7:36 left.

McDermott led all scorers with 27 points, including a perfect night in 10 attempts at the line. In the process, he became CU's first player in 45 years (Bob Portman) to open a season with five straight games of 20 or more points. Brooks had a career-high 23 points in just 19 minutes of work, sinking of 9-of-11 field goal attempts, and 4-of-4 shots from long-range. The Bluejays shot 53.4 percent on the night, including 12-of-25 (48 percent) from long-range, and also sank 14-of-16 attempts from the line.

ASU was paced by 15 points from All-America candidate Jahii Carson, though Carson made just 5-of-12 attempts and had five turnovers. Jermaine Marshall and Richie Edwards both had 12 points for the Sun Devils. Jordan Bachynski, who entered the game with six straight double-doubles, got in early foul trouble and finished with season-lows four points and two rebounds in 18 minutes. The Sun Devils made 37.9 percent of its shots from the field and were 9-of-20 at the line.

NOTES: Creighton extended its streak of games with a three-pointer to 650 when Jahenns Manigatdrilled a triple with 17:33 left in the first half ...Creighton has won 60 straight games when building a double-digit lead at any point, including tonight ...The loss was the second-largest at ASU under seventh-year coach Herb Sendek ... Isaiah Zierden had a key four-point play late in the first half, just the fourth in 115 games with Greg McDermott as CU coach ... Doug McDermott has now scored 20 or more points in seven straight games dating to last seaso
n. 

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