LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) Nebraska's Jeriah Horne had played just nine minutes in the month of December before Tuesday, when he came off the bench against Southern to score a career-high 18 points in 18 minutes and carry the Huskers to an 81-66 win.

Horne scored 13 of those points in the second half, hitting 3-pointers that stemmed Southern rallies and draining a game-clinching jumper with 14 seconds left.

''We played him and he came through,'' said Nebraska coach Tim Miles. ''I credit his patience. We played small so we got outrebounded. That was a high-risk play, but he got them back in bunches. We've still got to figure out where he fits in in the rotation but I was very proud of him.''

Horne, a freshman who had scored just 14 points in his 10 appearances this season, said his teammates kept him up while he wasn't playing, telling him his time would come. It came Tuesday and he responded.

''I just got in a rhythm and kept it going, trusted my teammates and they found me for open shots,'' Horne said. ''We played a lot faster than we usually do, so that was easier for me, playing with pace. It's a lot easier to get into things when you're playing with pace and attacking.''

Nebraska (6-6) led by as many as nine in the first half, but saw Southern (4-8) take a four-point lead early in the second half. The Huskers took the lead for good with an 8-0 run, capped by a pair of Anton Gill free throws with 9:14 remaining.

The Jaguars cut the lead to four, at 63-59, and a Horne 3-pointer put Nebraska back up by seven with 6:50 remaining. Southern came back to within three and Horne countered with a jumper to give Nebraska a 68-63 lead.

Horne's 3-pointer with 3:45 left gave the Huskers a 73-65 lead and Nebraska led by 10 with two minutes left before Southern hit three straight baskets, closing to 77-73 on Shawn Prudhomme's breakaway layup with 45 seconds to go.

Horne drained a jumper with 14 seconds left to put Nebraska back up by six. Emanuel Sheperd's 3 pointer with four seconds remaining pulled the Jaguars back within three. Glynn Watson Jr. hit a pair of free throws with a second left to seal the win.

Not surprisingly, Southern coach Roman Banks said the Jaguars weren't ready for Horne, who hadn't played enough for them to have a scouting report on him.

''We didn't talk about him,'' Banks said. ''He was a big, huge factor for them.''

BIG PICTURE

Nebraska: The Huskers, who made just 3 of 17 3 pointers in a 70-62 loss to Gardner-Webb Sunday, made 7 of 22 from behind the arc Tuesday. Horne was 4 of 6, while his teammates were 3 of 16.

Southern: The Jaguars played eight of their first 12 games on the road, losing seven of them. The only road win came at Florida A&M, an 83-71 victory on Dec. 3.

UP NEXT

Nebraska opens Big Ten conference play at Indiana on Jan. 28.

Southern opens SWAC play by hosting Southeastern Louisiana on Jan. 28.

Copyright 2016 by STATS LLC. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC is strictly prohibited.