Hawaii 84, Nebraska 83

HONOLULU (AP) -- The only player that could stop Jason Carter's hot shooting on Monday night was himself.

Carter scored a career-high 21 points and Hawaii held off Nebraska 84-83 in the second round of the NIT.

He sat out the final crucial minutes in part because of an injury he sustained in the first half when he punched a hole in a courtside advertisement sign in frustration after being called for a foul.

"I think that's great. It shows emotion," Rainbow Warriors coach Riley Wallace said. "The kid's fired up. We don't want him breaking signs, but it shows you what kind of heart he has and he's down there playing hard.

"He got a little scratch there so maybe he'll hit something softer next time."

Carter was 7-for-8 shooting, including 6-for-7 from 3-point range before being sidelined.

Jeff Blackett scored 17 points and Julian Sensley added 13 for the Rainbow Warriors (21-11), who led by as much as 19 points.

Hawaii advances to quarterfinals Wednesday to face Michigan, which beat Oklahoma 63-52 earlier Monday.

Trailing by a point, the Rainbow Warriors went on a 14-5 run with Blackett scoring eight straight points to take a 74-66 lead they wouldn't relinquish.

Hawaii, which led 83-78 with 49 seconds left, made it interesting by missing five free throws. Four of the missed free throws were by Michael Kuebler, who has a career 79 percent average. Kuebler was 1-for-7 from the line.

"I didn't feel nervous or anything like that," he said. "Most of them felt pretty good. They just didn't drop.

"It was a tough day, but everyone was able to knock down shots," Kuebler said. "Julian had a huge game, Jeff stepped up and seemed like he was hitting every shot he took. We're playing so good as a team right now."

Marcus Neal made a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the Cornhuskers (18-13).

Neal earlier sank a 3 from the top of the arc to give Nebraska its first lead, 55-54, with 14:42 remaining. The shot capped a 23-5 run, including three straight 3-pointers by Brian Conklin that erased Hawaii's 17-point halftime advantage.

"It ended up being the game I expected it to be, I'm sure glad we had a 17-point lead," Wallace said.

The Rainbow Warriors committed five turnovers during the Cornhuskers' run, which was halted by a pair of 3-pointers by Carter.

"You can't ever count them out," Blackett said. "No lead is really too big enough. That's obvious. We were up 17 at half and they fought back. They're a good team and they came back, but luckily we held them off."

Conklin led Nebraska with 24 points, including 19 in the second half, and six rebounds. Neal added 15 points.

Nebraska coach Barry Collier said he wanted to put more defensive pressure on Hawaii, but didn't get that accomplished until the second half.

"That was the big reason why we got back into the game," he said. "We also went to the basket a lot harder in the second half, so all of a sudden we had a great college basketball game."

Nate Johnson, Nebraska's leading scorer, managed just two shots from the field in the first half. He had six points before injuring his right knee with 6:47 left to go. He was helped off the court and didn't return.

Hawaii controlled the first half, using its passing game to set up several wide-open jumpers and alley-oop dunks. Logan Lee came off the bench to lead the Rainbow Warriors with nine assists.

The Rainbow Warriors closed the first half with a 12-5 run that gave them a 49-32 lead at the break. Blackett scored the final four points in the run on emphatic dunks.

The game was played in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 9,451, Hawaii's first home sellout in two years.

Hawaii made it to the second round by upsetting No. 25 Utah State, the only ranked team not in NCAA tournament. Nebraska, playing its third NIT game in seven days, advanced by beating Creighton and Niagara.