Gatens? 16 spurs Iowa past Nebraska

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) ? Matt Gatens wasn?t shooting like the hottest player in the Big Ten, Roy Devyn Marble still hadn?t scored and Iowa was clinging to a one-point lead against woeful Nebraska 6 minutes into the second half.

And Hawkeyes coach Fran McCaffery wasn?t happy.

Thanks to some sudden offense from Gatens and Marble, Iowa finally broke open the game and went on to defeat Nebraska 62-53 on Wednesday night.

?Coach was pretty upset at halftime,? Gatens said. ?He thought we could be up 10 or maybe even more the way our defense was playing. It was great to see us put them away and finish out the victory.?

Iowa (16-14, 8-9 Big Ten) muddled to a 23-19 halftime lead and had trouble shaking off the Cornhuskers before winning for the fifth time in eight games. A home victory over Northwestern on Saturday would give the Hawkeyes a .500 conference record for the first time in five years.

The Hawkeyes avenged a 79-73 loss to the Huskers in Iowa City last month and kept themselves alive for a No. 7 seed in next week?s Big Ten tournament.

?This was important because we know we can still be alive for the NCAA tournament,? guard Bryce Cartwright said. ?Plus we owed them one.?

Nebraska (12-16, 4-13), which ends the regular season Saturday at Minnesota, has lost seven of eight.

Gatens scored eight of his 16 points during the key 4-minute stretch when Iowa broke open the game. After Gatens hit a 3-pointer, Caleb Walker charged up the crowd when he stormed the baseline for a dunk to pull the Cornhuskers within 34-32 with 14 minutes left.

But Marble?s first basket of the night started a 15-3 Iowa burst. Gatens followed with a 3-pointer, Marble hit two in a row from long distance, Gatens dunked, Cartwright scored and the Hawkeyes suddenly were up 49-35 with 10:16 left.

?Marble was struggling and was a little bit sideways,? McCaffery said. ?I took him out, got into him a little bit and, as he typically does, he really responded.?

Marble and Cartwright, who played his best game since spraining his ankle two weeks ago, had 11 points apiece.

The Hawkeyes, playing in Lincoln for the first time since 1976, split the season series with the Huskers. Nebraska, in its first year in the Big Ten, won the first meeting 79-73 in Iowa City on Jan. 26.

Nebraska opened 5 of 18 from the field and had two 4-minute stretches without a field goal. The Huskers shot 37 percent for the game and were 4 of 24 on 3s.