The Mavericks used a stout defense and strong second-half shooting, while riding
Calvin Kapels' 22 points and 10 assists to a 71-59 non-conference win over Nebraska-Kearney. The victory, the second-straight over the Lopers in the series, evened No. 25 UNO's record at 5-5.
Kapels, a 6-4 senior guard from Columbus, just missed his second career triple-double, grabbing a team-high eight rebounds. He hit 6 of 11 shots, including 4 of 5 from behind the arc and all six of his free shots. He also had three steals.
A season-high crowd of 1,550 at Lee & Helene Sapp Fieldhouse watched the Mavericks forge a 35-27 lead at the break despite shooting just 39.3 percent from the field with no offensive rebounds. After UNK scored the first point in the opening minute, the Mavs never trailed again, leading by as many as 10 twice.
The Lopers, who shot 42.3 percent the first half, were held to just 28.2 percent the second. UNK pulled as close as a half dozen at 40-34 with 15:32 to play, but
Keith Price hit a free throw and
Zac Robinson a three-pointer to get the lead back to 10.
Chad Burger's three-pointer for the Lopers sliced the UNO lead down to 49-40 with 10:28 to play, but Robinson and
Ryan Curtis answered with layups and the Mavs held UNK without a field goal for just under six minutes, while building a 59-42 lead.
UNK hit three of their six three-point shots in the closing three minutes. Dusty Jura led the Lopers with 15 points and 13 rebounds and Chris Dean scored 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Besides Kapels, the Mavs Robinson in double figures with 14 points and seven rebounds.
The Mavericks will be in action twice next week, hosting York on Tuesday night and Peru State Saturday. Both games tip-off at 8 p.m.
