Creighton’s Ryan Nembhard drives to the basket as Arkansas’ Anthony Black defends during the first half of the No. 10 Bluejays’ 90-87 victory over the No. 9 Razorbacks in a Maui Jim Maui Invitational semifinal Tuesday at the Lahaina Civic Center. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos
LAHAINA — The Creighton-Arkansas top-10 semifinal showdown was perhaps the most anticipated game of this year’s Maui Jim Maui Invitational.
It did not disappoint.
Every point counted as the No. 10 Bluejays battled to a thrilling 90-87 victory over the ninth-ranked Razorbacks Tuesday afternoon at the Lahaina Civic Center to advance to the championship game.
“It was just an incredible college basketball game. There was a lot of haymakers thrown out there in 40 minutes. Their poise for as young as they are is really incredible,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “We didn’t go very deep on the bench this afternoon. I felt like we kind of had to ride these guys and they did a great job.”
Sophomore guard Ryan Nembhard scored a career-high 25 points that included three 3-pointers for the Bluejays (6-0), who shot 58.5 percent from the field and hit 7 of 14 from beyond the arc. Center Ryan Kalkbrenner had 21 points and guard Baylor Scheierman added 20, and both starters each snagged seven rebounds.
Arkansas’ Ricky Council IV puts up a second-half shot against Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner.
To take down the Razorbacks, the Bluejays overcame big games from Anthony Black and Ricky Council IV, who scored 26 and 24 points, respectively. As a team, Arkansas (4-1) shot 47.1 percent from the field and 40 percent (8 of 20) from 3.
Arkansas, which takes on No. 17 San Diego State in the third-place game today at 5 p.m., took advantage of a 17-9 imbalance in turnovers, converting the Bluejays’ miscues into 21 points.
“Yeah, they’re a great team. They got a lot of length. They’re big. They got a lot of size. They play really hard,” Nembhard said of the Razorbacks. “They try and turn you over. They’re just a good young team. It was a great matchup.”
Despite feeling the pressure by the Razorbacks’ defense, Scheierman said that he had confidence in his teammates “that they can make plays.”
“When they’re dogging me like that, it leaves other people open,” he said.
Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman follows through on a first-half shot Tuesday.
Nembhard made two free throws, Arthur Kaluma slammed home a dunk and Scheierman made a deep 3-pointer to open up a 70-64 Creighton lead with 7:52 remaining. Arkansas chipped away and closed within 72-71 on Black’s fastbreak layup with 5:16 on the clock.
From there the teams traded punches, with Creighton scoring from the paint and the Razorbacks responding from the outside, including a 3-pointer from Arkansas’ Trevon Brazile that tied the game at 79 with 2:22 left.
A layup by Kaluma put the Bluejays ahead again until the Razorbacks’ Jordan Walsh sank both his free throws. Kalkbrenner, Creighton’s 7-foot-1 center, leaped up for a dunk and Trey Alexander hit a couple of foul shots that put the Bluejays back up 88-84 with 7 seconds left.
As time ticked away, Black nailed a desperate, off-balance 3-pointer to close the gap. Alexander was immedately fouled and calmly made his free throws with 1.9 seconds on the clock, and a wild half-court shot at the buzzer by the Razorbacks was way off the mark.
“We got in a little bit of foul trouble, so, you know, our defense, whatever, we lost by three points … offensively we were really good tonight,” Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said. “So we scored 53 points in the second half. So they’re a really good offensive team, but we turned it, you know, it ended up being a high-scoring game.”
The Bluejays’ Arthur Kaluma drives for a second-half basket.
The extremely vocal crowd — split evenly between Creighton and Arkansas fans — was hard to ignore Tuesday, and the players and coaches were clearly fueled by the energy throughout the game and especially in the final minutes.
“There was so many changes in momentum during that game that both fan bases really were into the game and on the edge of their seat the whole time. This is a game that our guys are going to look back on it a long time and remember because it was such an incredible environment,” McDermott said. “You couldn’t communicate with your team when Arkansas was on a run and I think they probably had a hard time communicating when we were on a run because the fans were really into it.”
After back-to-back days of competition, McDermott said that the Bluejays will be playing on adrenaline in today’s noon championship game against No. 14 Arizona.
“It’s three games in a short period of time and you don’t ever do this except for your conference tournament,” he said. “But we’re going to be a little tired tomorrow, but hopefully our energy and enthusiasm for being in the championship can trump some of that fatigue.”
* Dakota Grossman is at [email protected]
Creighton Bluejays 90
CREIGHTON (6-0)
Kaluma 4-8 1-2 9, Kalkbrenner 9-12 3-6 21, Alexander 4-6 4-5 12, Nembhard 6-12 10-12 25, Scheierman 7-10 3-4 20, Farabello 1-3 0-0 3, Miller 0-0 0-0 0, S.Mitchell 0-1 0-0 0, King 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 31-53 21-29 90.
ARKANSAS (4-1)
Makhi.Mitchell 1-2 0-0 2, Black 10-18 5-7 26, Council 9-19 4-4 24, Da.Davis 3-9 2-2 9, Walsh 1-5 2-2 5, Brazile 7-14 0-1 17, Makhe.Mitchell 2-3 0-1 4. Totals 33-70 13-17 87.
Halftime–Creighton 40-34. 3-Point Goals–Creighton 7-14 (Nembhard 3-4, Scheierman 3-5, Farabello 1-3, Kaluma 0-1, S.Mitchell 0-1), Arkansas 8-20 (Brazile 3-5, Council 2-6, Walsh 1-2, Black 1-3, Da.Davis 1-4). Fouled Out–Brazile. Rebounds–Creighton 33 (Kalkbrenner, Scheierman 7), Arkansas 25 (Black, Brazile 6). Assists–Creighton 17 (Alexander 6), Arkansas 15 (Black 6). Total Fouls–Creighton 16, Arkansas 21. A–2,400 (2,400).
Arkansas Razorbacks 87
