Mast has triple-double, Sanford has 6 3s, Nebraska rolls FIU 96-66

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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Rienk Mast had 18 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for his first double-double and Nebraska rolled to a 96-66 over Florida International on Saturday.

Pryce Sanfort was 6-of-9 on 3-pointers and led the Cornhuskers (2-0) with 20 points. Freshman Braden Frager added 15 points, Connor Essegian had 13 and Berke Buyuktuncel 11.

Mast had the first Nebraska triple-double since 2020, doing it on 6-of-10 shooting. The Cornhuskers were 17 of 34 behind the arc and shot 55% overall. They turned 20 FIU turnovers into 30 points.

Hamed Olayinka and Jilian Mackey had 12 points apiece for the Panthers (1-1), Corey Stephenson added 11 and Eric Dibami 10. FIU shot 39%, going 6 of 23 from deep.

Mast had 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting, including two 3s, and 10 rebounds at halftime. Fager added 11 points and the Cornhuskers, who were 10 of 20 behind the arc, led 49-28.

Buyuktuncel had a 3 and layup to close an 11-0 run, which included 3s from Jared Sanfort and Mast, for a 16-6 lead. Essegian and Frager hit 3s that made it 24-11 and Nebraska had a double-figure lead the rest of the way.

Sandfort had 11 straight Nebraska points, and 14 in less than five minutes and then Jared Garcia hit a 3-pointer to make it 71-34 just over five minutes into the second half.

Nebraska is home against Maryland Eastern-Shore before heading to Oklahoma next Saturday.

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