The College Basketball Invitational is unusual in that the final round is a best-of-three series. Nevada and Morehead State went the full three games and Friday’s rubber match did not disappoint. The Eagles made a big second-half comeback to force overtime, but their heroic effort eventually fell short. Nevada held on, 85-82, to claim the 2016 CBI title.
Morehead State vs. Nevada final score, CBI 2016: Wolfpack pull off 85-82 win in overtime
It took three games and overitme, but Nevada has finally put away Morehead State to win the 2016 CBI tournament.
Things remained a back-and-forth affair in the overtime period, with neither team pulling ahead. The Eagles took advantage of a handful of Wolfpack turnovers, scoring five unanswered points to take the 82-80 lead. However, Nevada took the lead back with just 16 seconds left thanks to a layup by Tyron Criswell. The Wolfpack eventually made the free throws they needed to secure the title,
Being the last game in the series, and both teams came out fast in some high-intensity basketball. After a close lead for most of the first half, Nevada started pulling away with a 17-2 run to open up a double-digit lead. Morehead State tried making a comeback after breaking out of its scoring drought, but it never got the deficit lower than five points. The Wolfpack headed into halftime with the 41-34 lead.
The Wolfpack continued holding their sizeable lead throughout much of the second half, with the Eagles rarely getting within striking distance. However, Morehead State pulled things back within one point with less than 10 minutes left. The Eagles tied things up for the first time since the first half with a three-pointer by Lamontray Harris. Another three-point shot from Malik Maitland gave the Eagles the lead at the 7:02 mark.
Nevada briefly got the lead back but things were tied at 66-66 at the under-four timeout. After the timeout, Criswell made two free throws to put Nevada up two, and they had that slim lead with 90 seconds left. However, the Eagles got yet another clutch shot from Maitland to tie it at 70-70, but even that lead was short-lived when Cameron Oliver put the Wolfpack up two with 1:12 left. After both teams traded haymakers, Nevada had the 74-73 lead with 16 seconds on the clock and possession of the ball. After Nevada missed one of two free throws, the Eagles’ DeJuan Marrero nailed his two free shots to tie it up 75-75 and force overtime.
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