Derrick Walker scored 20 points on 10-of-12 shooting and Sam Griesel added 13 points — 11 early in the second half — as Nebraska pulled away to beat turnover-prone Florida State 75-58 on Sunday in the seventh-place game of the ESPN Events Invitational in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Both teams dropped their first two games in the tournament to set up Sunday’s meeting.

Walker, who made his season debut on Friday after an undisclosed medical condition, had his second consecutive double-double by adding 13 rebounds and four assists. Griesel added nine assists.

Nebraska (4-3) put together a 12-2 run to end the first half with a 33-26 lead, and then poured it on, going on a 13-2 run to lead by 16 with 15:09 left in the game. Griesel, who had two 3-pointers during the burst, ended it with a pair of free throws.

Later, Florida State made a 10-2 run, with Cam’Ron Fletcher and Matthew Cleveland scoring four points apiece, to get the deficit to 10, but a dunk by Nebraska’s Juwan Gary ignited a 12-2 run to make it a 71-51 game with 3:39 left.

Cleveland led Florida State with 17 points and Fletcher supplied 10 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Caleb Mills, the team’s leading scorer who entered at 13.1 points per game, added nine points and six assists.

The Seminoles (1-7), who matched the program’s worst start to a season since 2000-01, finished with 19 turnovers. They shot 39 percent from the floor and 3 of 21 on 3-point attempts.

C.J. Wilcher chipped in 13 points, mostly on 3-of-6 shooting from long range. Keisei Tominaga added 13 points and Gary supplied 10 as the Cornhuskers shot 50 percent from the floor and 6 of 24 on 3-pointers. They had 14 turnovers, but just three in the second half.

Each team missed its final four shots of the turnover-plagued first half. Florida State had more turnovers (14) than rebounds (13), and Nebraska had 11 turnovers in the half.

Tominaga scored nine points in the half, and Walker and Wilcher added eight apiece. Cleveland led the Seminoles with eight points.

–Field Level Media

Julian Strawther scored a career-high 23 points and collected nine rebounds to help No. 6 Gonzaga notch an 88-84 victory over Xavier on Sunday night and win the third-place game of the Phil Knight Legacy at Portland, Ore.

Drew Timme added 16 points, seven assists and six rebounds as the Bulldogs (5-2) bounced back from Friday’s 84-66 loss to No. 24 Purdue.

Anton Watson contributed 16 points, seven rebounds and three steals, Nolan Hickman had 14 points, six rebounds and five assists and Rasir Bolton added 13 points and six assists for Gonzaga.

Jack Nunge scored a season-best 25 points and Colby Jones matched his season high of 22 for the Musketeers (4-3). Zach Freemantle had 14 points and Souley Boum scored 10.

Xavier led 75-73 after Freemantle’s basket with 3:46 remaining before the Zags took over.

Strawther made a 3-pointer, Watson hit a jumper and Strawther connected on another trey as the Bulldogs took an 81-75 lead with 1:37 to play. Watson made two free throws to cap the 10-0 burst with 55.8 seconds left.

Jones scored all the Musketeers’ points during a 9-3 run as Xavier moved within 86-84 with 2.6 seconds left. Strawther made two free throws with two seconds left to seal it.

Xavier’s Adam Kunkel (head injury) sat out. He was injured during Friday’s loss to Duke.

The Bulldogs shot 50 percent from the field and were 13 of 24 from 3-point range.

Xavier hit 51.5 percent of its shots, including 8 of 15 from behind the arc. Jones had seven rebounds and seven assists and Boum also had seven boards.

Gonzaga led by 10 points early in the second half before the Musketeers rattled off 25 of the next 32 points to take an eight-point lead.

First, Xavier scored seven straight to creep within 56-53 with 11:47 left.

A short time later, Jones buried a 3-pointer and Nunge scored on a layup to give the Musketeers a 62-61 edge with 9:18 remaining in the contest. That marked Xavier’s first lead since 2-0.

Timme scored 15 seconds later to put the Bulldogs back ahead. But Nunge scored seven consecutive points and KyKy Tandy hit a jumper as Xavier held a 71-63 lead with 6:19 left.

Gonzaga responded with eight straight points. Bolton and Hickman made 3-pointers and Timme sank two free throws to tie it with 4:47 left.

Watson had 10 points and six rebounds in the first half as Gonzaga held a 40-34 advantage. Freemantle had 10 in the half for the Musketeers.

–Field Level Media

Jaime Jaquez Jr. shot 13-of-17 from the floor and led four Bruins scorers in double-figures with a season-high 27 points, as No. 19-ranked UCLA routed visiting Bellarmine, 81-60, Sunday in Los Angeles.

Jaquez’s best offensive performance of the season, which also included a game-high seven rebounds, powered an efficient Bruins attack.

UCLA (5-2) shot a season-best 60.8 percent from the floor at 31-of-51 and finished with 28-of-35 shooting from inside the 3-point arc. The Bruins scored 25 of their 31 made field goals off of assists, including a season-high 10 from Tyger Campbell.

Campbell added 10 points despite shooting 2-of-8 from the floor. He was the sole UCLA starter to connect on fewer than 50 percent of his field-goal attempts, however, with Amari Bailey going 5-of-9 en route to 12 points.

Bailey also dished a career-high eight assists and matched Jaquez’s game-high four steals. The takeaways were part of 20 total Bellarmine turnovers, which the Bruins converted into 30 points.

Adem Bona notched his own career-high of 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting. David Singleton rounded out the UCLA starting five with five points on 2-of-3 shooting from the floor.

Singleton started in place of Jaylen Clark, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder on the season at 15.7 points per game and 7.7 boards per game, who was a late scratch from the lineup due to a non-COVID illness.

Bellarmine (2-5) dropped its fourth straight with Sunday’s loss, all part of a grueling road trip that includes visits to three of college basketball’s all-time most winning programs: Duke, UCLA and Kentucky.

The Knights shot 11-of-32 from 3-point range but were hamstrung due to the high volume of turnovers and inability to score on the interior. Bellarmine attempted just 22 field goals inside the arc and got to the foul line just six times.

The Knights went 3-of-6 from the free-throw stripe, compared to 16-of-22 for UCLA. Ben Johnson led Bellarmine with 20 points, while Curt Hopf added 16 points.

–Field Level Media

Tyson Walker led a balanced effort with 16 points and No. 12 Michigan State held off Portland 78-77 in the fifth-place game of the Phil Knight Invitational on Sunday at Portland, Ore.

Pierre Brooks had 15 points, Joey Hauser supplied 14 points and seven rebounds and A.J. Hoggard added 12 points and nine assists for Michigan State (5-2).

Tyler Robertson and Alden Applewhite led the Pilots (5-4) with 16 points apiece. Kristian Sjolund added 15 points for Portland, which scored the last eight points.

Walker’s basket in the lane gave the Spartans a 78-69 lead. The Pilots then erupted for eight unanswered points in the next 35 seconds, with two Michigan State turnovers resulting in back-to-back 3-pointers by Sjolund.

Brooks missed a contested shot and Robertson grabbed the rebound. After a timeout, Robertson missed from close range, allowing the Spartans to hang on.

Portland led 42-34 at the break. Sjolund led the Pilots with nine points while Hauser topped the Spartans with 12.

Sjolund made a 3-pointer to ignite an 11-4 Portland spurt to finish the half.

Robertson opened the second half with a layup but the Spartans answered with a 15-2 run sparked by Brooks’ 3-pointer.

Walker also dropped in a 3-pointer during the span and Mady Sissoko had a de facto five-point play. He made a dunk and was knocked to the floor by Joey St. Pierre. Sissoko completed the three-point play and made two technical foul free throws. Michigan State also retained possession, and Hoggard made a layup to give his team a 49-46 lead.

Brooks hit a 3-pointer with 11:51 left to give his club a 59-55 edge. Brooks then set up Carson Cooper for a dunk.

Tre Holloman’s basket with six minutes to go gave the Spartans an eight-point lead.

Hauser made two free throws to provide Michigan State with its first double-digit advantage. Back-to-back field goals from Hoggard made the score 76-64 with four minutes left.

–Field Level Media

Nijel Pack scored 16 points, leading the Miami Hurricanes to a 66-64 win over the host UCF Knights on Sunday night in Orlando, Fla.

Wooga Poplar added 12 points and Jordan Miller had 11 to help the Hurricanes (6-1).

With 1.4 seconds left and UCF trailing by two points, the Knights’ C.J. Walker could’ve tied the score with two free throws. However, Walker missed his first free throw. He missed the second one intentionally and the ball was batted out of bounds, ending the game.

The Hurricanes, who lead the series 9-3, avenged a 95-89 loss to UCF last season. Miami also snapped UCF’s streak of five straight games holding its opponent under 60 points.

UCF (5-2) was led by backup point guard Darius Johnson, who scored 22 of his 24 points in the second half. But UCF’s leading scorer, true freshman Taylor Hendricks, was held to eight points. He entered the game averaging 15.8 points.

Miami’s Isaiah Wong was held to eight points, but he made a pair of spectacular plays in the first half. First, the 6-foot-4 guard soared over 6-foot-10 Lahat Thioune to put down a dunk off a lob pass from Bensley Joseph. Then, Wong took two dribbles and beat the first-half buzzer with a 40-foot swish from the UCF logo.

Early on, the Knights led 17-15, when the Hurricanes went scoreless for 6:34, a drought that was snapped by Poplar’s fortuitous 3-point bank shot.

Poplar followed that with an emphatic dunk. Miami finished the half by making six of its final seven shots, taking a 32-26 lead into the break.

In the second half, Miami used an 8-0 run to take a 42-30 lead with 15:49 left.

UCF rallied as a Johnson 3-pointer cut Miami’s lead to 51-47 with 9:03 left. The Knights cut their deficit to 65-64 on a 3-point play by Johnson with 11.3 seconds left.

But the Knights couldn’t get any closer.

For the game, UCF shot 4 of 17 on 3-pointers and Miami went 6 for 19 from deep. Another key was the foul line, where Miami shot 8 of 12 and UCF was 12 of 17.

–Field Level Media

Warren Washington and Devan Cambridge each had 14 points to lead a balanced scoring effort for Arizona State in the Sun Devils’ 76-54 victory over Alcorn State on Sunday at Tempe, Ariz.

Washington made all five of his field-goal attempts and had seven rebounds. Cambridge was 5 of 8 from the field with seven rebounds.

Arizona State (6-1) was also led by 11 points from Frankie Collins and 10 from Alonzo Gaffney. Collins and DJ Horne each had five assists.

The Sun Devils, who are on a four-game winning streak, recorded 20 assists among their 24 made field goals. Arizona State had 21 assists on its 25 made field goals Tuesday against visiting Grambling in an 80-49 win.

Dekedran Thorn led Alcorn State (3-4) with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field, 5-of-8 from 3-point range.

Dominic Brewton added 13 points and Jeremiah Kendall had a game-high 10 rebounds.

Arizona State pulled away midway through the second half from Alcorn State, which trailed by four points with 11:31 remaining.

A 12-2 run gave the Sun Devils a 60-45 lead with 6:03 remaining.

Alcorn State missed 13 of its last 15 shots from the field and finished shooting 27.1 percent, including 5 of 23 from 3-point range.

Arizona State’s 10-0 run that included five points from Washington gave Arizona State a 30-21 lead with 2:19 left in the first half.

The Sun Devils scored the first five points of the second half on a 3-pointer by Cambridge and a jumper by Washington to take a 37-23 lead.

Thorn then fueled an 11-3 Alcorn State run with three 3-pointers to cut the Sun Devils’ lead to 40-34 with 14:57 left.

After Alcon State cut the lead to 45-41, Arizona State outscored the Braves 15-4 that included the 12-2 run. The Braves went on a 1-of-6 shooting spell during that stretch.

A layup by Collins capped the run, giving the Sun Devils the 60-45 lead.

–Field Level Media

Jackson Stormo finished with 11 points and was vital down the stretch as Siena defeated Seton Hall 60-55 on Sunday night in the third-place game of the ESPN Events Invitational in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Seton Hall’s Al-Amir Dawes tied things at 53 with 3:32 left before Stormo’s short jumper just over a minute later gave Siena (4-3) a two-point edge. Stormo also made a free throw with 19 seconds left to widen the margin, and the Saints survived a free-throw competition in the waning seconds to take down Seton Hall (4-3).

Javian McCollum led Siena with 14 points, and Jayce Johnson chipped in 11 to go along with nine rebounds.

Dawes tallied a game-high 15 points and Tyrese Samuel finished with 14, but they were the only two Pirates to score in double figures. Seton Hall struggled immensely from beyond the arc, making just 1 of 9 3-point attempts.

Tray Jackson’s layup capped a 10-4 burst that pulled the Pirates within five with just over 11 minutes left to play. McCollum drained a 3-pointer to push the lead back to eight, but then Seton Hall shifted momentum in its favor.

The Pirates scored nine straight points to claim their first lead since the 10:03 mark of the first half, but Siena never let the game get out of hand before prevailing late.

After trailing early, the Saints turned up the intensity, outscoring Seton Hall 30-14 over the final 13 minutes of the first half to go into the break with an eight-point edge.

McCollum led Siena’s first-half scoring efforts, posting eight points, while Jared Billups had seven.

Samuel led all scorers with 12 points through the first 20 minutes, but Seton Hall made just 34.5 percent of its field goals.

Johnson’s 3-pointer provided Siena’s only points through the first 5:55 of action, allowing the Pirates to take an early 11-3 advantage. But the Saints responded with an 8-0 run shortly after to pull even at 13-all.

–Field Level Media

Washington’s zone defense should get a stern test from Seattle’s Cameron Tyson on Monday night.

Unofficially, Tyson leads Division I with 28.3 points and 6.3 3-pointers made per game. It gets an asterisk only because Tyson has appeared in fewer than the NCAA standard of 75 percent of games played for the Redhawks (5-0), having sat out the team’s two contests against Division III opponents.

“He’s a big-time scorer, he’s a dynamic scorer,” Redhawks coach Chris Victor said. “He had some big games last year and he’s going to have some big games this year.”

Tyson, who transferred back home to Seattle after being on the Houston team that reached the 2021 Final Four, averaged 14.7 points last season in helping the Redhawks to a share of the Western Athletic Conference’s regular-season title.

The career leading scorer at Seattle-area Bothell High School (surpassing the mark of NBA All-Star Zach LaVine), Tyson told the Seattle Times his phone has been “going crazy” with friends reminding him he’s leading the nation in scoring.

“I’m trying to keep it as humble as possible and not let it get to me,” Tyson told the newspaper. “I feel like when you get unhumble, that’s when you get humbled.

“Our team is just very good at finding the hot hand, and these last (few) games, it’s just been mine. They found me, and I feel like I’ve been producing for them.”

Washington (5-1) also has enjoyed some early-season success, returning home after claiming the championship of the Wooden Legacy tournament at Anaheim, Calif., with a 68-64 overtime victory Friday against Saint Mary’s.

“We found ways to win and at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about,” Huskies coach Mike Hopkins said. “Win the game in front of you. Get better. And move forward.”

The Huskies were led by a pair of transfers in tourney MVP Keion Brooks Jr. (Kentucky) and all-tournament pick Franck Kepnang (Oregon). Brooks had 14 points and 11 rebounds in the title game and Kepnang added 10 points and five rebounds.

“It was big for our team just to get this win and go back to Seattle with the trophy,” Kepnang said. “That’s what we said coming into the game is that we’re coming back home … with the trophy.”

–Field Level Media

Pittsburgh swept through its Thanksgiving week schedule with home wins against Alabama State, Fairleigh Dickinson and William & Mary, needing strong, second-half spurts to pull away each time.

Has something been amiss with the Panthers in the first 20 minutes of games entering Monday’s visit to Evanston, Ill., to play Northwestern in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge?

“I wish I could tell you. It’s frustrating,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said. “I don’t know if there’s something we need to change in warmups, but we need to figure it out. As we move forward, the competition increases, starting on Monday. If you dig yourself a hole in these next three games, it will be difficult to dig out of.”

Pitt (4-3) is coming off Friday’s 80-64 win against William & Mary. Trailing 37-33 at halftime, the Panthers relied on the second double-double of the season from Blake Hinson, who finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Nike Sibande narrowly missed a double-double, contributing 15 points and nine boards.

Monday’s game begins a three-game road trip for the Panthers, with upcoming stops at North Carolina State and Vanderbilt.

Northwestern (5-1) absorbed its first defeat Wednesday, losing 43-42 to No. 13 Auburn in the championship game of the Cancun Challenge.

After Chase Audige made a 3-pointer to put the Wildcats ahead 40-39 with three minutes to go, Northwestern struggled to score down the stretch.

Shooting struggles were the norm throughout the night. The Wildcats shot 14 of 56 (25 percent) for the game and 2 of 24 (8.3 percent) from deep.

The Wildcats blocked eight Auburn shots. Despite the outcome, Northwestern coach Chris Collins appreciated the experience of bringing the team abroad for an early-season road trip.

“I think sometimes with some of our travels, we kind of take for granted what that means for a young person to be able to make a trip like this,” he said. “To come here to Mexico, to a great venue, (you) learn about the culture, meet new people and play high-level basketball.”

–Field Level Media