Andrew Morgan scored 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds Sunday as Nebraska established a 20-point halftime lead and cruised to a 66-49 win over Murray State in the quarterfinals of the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu.The Cornhuskers (8-2) also got 15 points from Connor Essegian as they advanced to Monday night’s semifinals. They’ll meet either Charlotte or Hawaii, who play in Sunday night’s last quarterfinal.Kylen Milton scored a game-high 19 points for the Racers (6-5), who dropped their third straight game. Milton was 7 of 15 from the field but his teammates made only 10 of 40, with Murray State finishing the game at 30.9 percent.Nebraska never trailed and led for all but the game’s first 1:16, thanks to equal parts good defense and horrific Murray State shooting. The Racers started the contest at 1 of 13 from the field and didn’t get much better in the first half.Entering the game averaging 78.8 points per game and shooting a respectable 47.7 percent from the field — and 38.6 percent from the 3-point line — Murray State finished the first half at 4 of 28 overall and 3 of 15 on 3-pointers. Even with the Cornhuskers chipping in 10 turnovers, the Racers managed just one point off all those miscues.When Nebraska wasn’t coughing the ball up, it scored enough to build a cushion that the Racers couldn’t erase. It converted 50 percent of its shots in the half, getting nine points from Essegian, all on 3-pointers.
