The Mavericks held Colorado State-Pueblo to just two field goals the final 10 minutes in pulling away to a 73-46 win at Lee & Helene Sapp Fieldhouse in the first round of the Downtown Courtyard by Marriott Classic Friday night.
The Mavs will meet Oklahoma Panhandle State at 8 in Saturday night's game. Panhandle dropped a 79-77 overtime decision to South Dakota Friday and will meet CSU-Pueblo at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Calvin Kapels scored 22 points and added seven rebounds in leading the Mavericks to their second straight win. UNO is now 3-4, while the Thunderwolves fell to 2-1.
The teams battled through five lead changes the first 30 minutes and CSU-Pueblo pulled within 46-42 with 9:36 left on a free throw by Steve Raquet.
Zac Robinson launched a 13-0 UNO run with a three-pointer 90 seconds later. Robinson added another and Kapels capped the run with a pair of free shots for a 59-42 lead with 4:29 left before the Thunderwolves could answer on a three-pointer by Luis Marquez, ending a scoreless stretch of 5:27 and a skein of 5:55 without a field goal.
UNO tacked on 12 straight points after that, with 8-for-10 shooting from the foul line, before CSU-Pueblo scored next with 49 seconds left on a layup by Brett Cloepfil.
The Mavericks, who shot just 36.7 percent from the field the first half, turned up the heat with 54.2 percent the second half to finish at 44.4 percent for the game. UNO held Colorado State-Pueblo to just 24.1 percent shooting the second half and 34 percent for the game.
Jamaal Byers added 13 points and Robinson 10 for the Mavericks. Raquet led the Thunderwolves with 13 points and 14 rebounds.
UNO committed a season-low four turnovers and just one in the first half in taking a 33-30 lead at the break. Meanwhile, UNO forced 20 turnovers and had 10 steals in the game.
