KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Big Eight Basketball Tournament, after a three-day run at Kemper Arena, at the end proved only that Missouri's Doug Smith is a very fine basketball player.
The Tigers, on probation and ineligible for the NCAA tournament, were carried to the finals victory by Smith, named the tournament Most Valuable Player.
Smith's 31 points in Sunday's 90-82 victory over first-time finals entrant and 13th-rated Nebraska made him the tournament's scoring leader for career, 207, and single tournament, 92.
'It's been a great weekend,' said Smith, a graduating senior headed for the NBA. 'I knew it would be the last chance to play with my teammates.'
Smith ended his career as a two-time Big Eight Player of the Year, the league's No. 7 all-time scorer (2,184) and No. 5 rebounder (1,053).
Smith, however, is the only senior on the Tiger squad, and his underclass colleagues showed in Sunday's final that Missouri should win some games next year when it will be eligible for the national championship.
Nebraska, with senior center Rick King scoring 20 points and senior forward Beau Reid adding 15, held Missouri to a 46-41 lead at halftime and pushed into the lead, 57-53, five minutes into the second half. But freshman Melvin Booker hit two straight three-pointers and the Tigers regained the lead for good.
Nebraska, which prior to this year had won only five games in the 14 years of the tournament and had never made the finals, pulled to within three with 1:57 left, at 83-80, but Anthony Peeler went on a tear for the Tigers, hitting a three-pointer and three free throws for six of Missouri's last seven points while Nebraska scored only a last-second field goal by Keith Moody.
Peeler joined Smith on the all-tournament team. Nebraska's Tony Farmer and Clifford Scales and Oklahoma State Byron Houston were also named to the team.
