Graves Carries Creighton Men's Hoops Past Rutgers to Open Crown
LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Nik Graves had 25 of his season-high 28 points in the second half as Creighton men's basketball extended its season with an 82-69 win over Rutgers late on Thursday night in quarterfinal action of the College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas, Nev.
Creighton (16-17) earns itself a semifinal match-up at 3 p.m. Central on Saturday against West Virginia (19-14) with the win, as the Mountaineers used some late heroics to post an 82-77 overtime win vs. Stanford in Thursday's first quarterfinal. Rutgers ends its season with a 14-20 record.
Rutgers got off to a quick start against a Bluejay squad that had played just once since March 5th, as the Scarlet Knights owned an 16-7 lead with 12:30 left in the first half. Once they regained their footing and settled in, the Bluejays countered with a 12-2 run to tie the game at 24-all thanks to three points each from Jasen Green, Graves, Dix and Isaac Traudt. CU didn't take its first lead until 1:10 remained in the first half when Graves found Hudson Greer for an alley-oop to take a 28-26 advantage.
Creighton took a 31-28 lead into the half thanks to nine points by Dix and six assists from Graves. Tariq Francis led Rutgers with nine points before the break.
Graves then took over, playing like a senior who didn't want his career to end. He scored 20 of CU's next 32 points as the Bluejays turned a 35-34 lead into a 67-50 advantage. Rutgers would post a spirited comeback, drawing within 71-63 before a a three-point play by Green and a trifecta by Graves pushed the Bluejay lead back to 77-63 with just over a minute to go to ice the win.
Graves led CU with 28 points and eight assists, while Green had 16 points and nine rebounds to narrowly miss his first career double-double. Dix added 14 points and Blake Harper had eight points to pace a Bluejay bench that scored 15 points. CU made 20-of-24 free throws in the game, including 12-of-13 marksmanship from Graves, and won the rebound battle 40-38.
Rutgers got 19 points from Francis and Jamichael Davis contributed 17 points off the bench in 22 minutes. Rutgers made just 2-of-14 three-pointers and shot 36.9 percent from the field.