LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Brice Williams pumped in 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as Nebraska came from eight points down in the second half to win its fourth straight game, knocking off Ohio State 79-71 on Sunday.

Nebraska (16-8, 6-7) knocked off then-No. 18 Illinois, then swept a West Coast trip to Washington and then-No. 16 Oregon before knocking off the Buckeyes.

The Buckeyes (14-10, 6-7) came into the game fresh off a win over No. 18 Illinois and had won four of its last five games and held a five-point lead at intermission, 39-34.

Micah Parrish pushed it to an eight-point advantage by knocking down a 3-pointer a minute into the second half. Juwan Gary answered with a 3 for Nebraska, then knocked down a jumper and Berke Buyuktuncel added a 3 to pull the Cornhuskers even at 42 just over 17 minutes to play. Connor Essegian pulled them even at 48-48 and Andrew Morgan put them in front after diving on the floor to steal the ball from Aaron Bradshaw, then scored his only points of the game on a back-door layup with just under 10 minutes left.

Williams was 9 of 16 from the floor but just 1 of 6 from beyond the arc and was 5 of 5 from the line with four assists to lead Nebraska. Gary added 19 points and Buyuktuncel contributed 15 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Parrish was 11 of 21 from the floor, including 5 of 12 from beyond the arc, to lead Ohio State with a career-high 30 points. Freshman John Mobley Jr. added 21 points, knocking down 5 of 10 shots from behind the arc.

Ohio State plays host to Washington Wednesday. Nebraska hosts No. 18 Maryland Thursday.

Huskers Fall to No. 24 Bulldogs

NU Athletic Communications

Mississippi State hit a two-out, three-run double in the bottom of the second inning to take a 3-0 lead, which stood for all seven innings, as the No. 19 Nebraska softball team fell to the No. 24 Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Fla.

The Big Red finished 3-2 on the weekend against a schedule that featured three ranked foes. The tournament was highlighted by an opening day 7-1 win against No. 6 Tennessee.

Kylee Magee (1-1) took the loss for NU but struck out three in her 2.0 innings.

Emmerson Cope had a solid stint in relief, pitching three shutout innings. Hannah Camenzind came in to pitch the final inning for the Big Red and allowed no runs.

Raelin Chaffin earned the win for Mississippi State. She went 4-0 on the weekend and did not allow an earned run.

Emmerson Cope and Olivia DiNardo led the Nebraska offense, as each notched two hits in three at bats. DiNardo and Ava Kuszak registered a double apiece.

Mississippi State played the game's only runs off a three-run double by Sierra Sacco with two outs in the bottom of the second inning.

Nebraska's offense had several scoring chances but went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

NU will head to Las Cruces, N.M. to take part in the Troy Cox Classic from Feb. 14-16. The Huskers will compete against Texas A&M Corpus-Christi and New Mexico State on Friday, Montana and Northern Colorado on Saturday and Montana again on Sunday. Every game will be available to listen to on the Huskers Radio Network.

Postgame Notes

Emmerson Cope pitched five innings on the weekend and allowed no runs.
Nebraska’s bullpen pitched four innings against Mississippi State and did not allow any runs.
The Huskers went 3-2 overall at the NFCA Leadoff Classic, including an impressive win over No. 6 Tennessee.
Over the course of the weekend, Ava Kuszak (.467) and Olivia DiNardo (.455) racked up the highest batting averages. Kuszak also had the most hits with seven.

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