BYU 88, Creighton 82

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[March 23, 2016]    Freshman guard Zac Seljaas made five 3-pointers and scored 19 points to help Brigham Young post an 88-82 victory over Creighton on Tuesday at Provo, Utah, and advances into the NIT semifinals for the second time in four seasons.

Junior forward Kyle Davis scored 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting, and freshman guard Nick Emery added 17 points for second-seeded BYU (26-10), which shot 59.3 percent in the second half to finish at 50.9 percent overall.

Cougars senior guard Chase Fischer added 15 points and senior point guard Kyle Collinsworth had 10 points despite being limited to 20 minutes due to the flu.

Senior center Geoffrey Groselle scored 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting for the fourth-seeded Bluejays (20-15). Junior forward Cole Huff had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and junior guard Maurice Watson Jr. had nine assists to go with nine points.

The Cougars will face top-seeded Valparaiso (29-6) in a semifinal matchup March 29 at New York's Madison Square Garden.

Creighton's final lead was 45-44 on Groselle's basket with 16:34 remaining. BYU responded with an 11-2 run to open up an eight-point advantage. The Bluejays crept within 55-51, but a three-point play from Fischer and a 3-pointer by Seljaas made it a 10-point margin with 11:28 to play.

Emery drained a 3-pointer to make it 67-52 with 9:55 remaining, and the Cougars still led by 13 with under three minutes remaining before Creighton scored six straight to get within 74-67 with 2:33 left. The Bluejays later cut BYU's lead to five points on two occasions in the final half-minute but couldn't get closer.

Early on, Creighton was the stronger squad. Huff's 3-pointer gave the Bluejays a 15-6 advantage. The lead topped out at 12 before the Cougars rallied and later used a 15-4 burst to move ahead for the first time with 27 seconds left in the half. BYU led 38-37 at the break.

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