Box Score Box Score (PDF/HTML)
Photo Album

OMAHA, Neb. – The Omaha men's basketball team made a valiant comeback to cut it to a nine-point deficit with under four minutes to go, but it was not enough to overcome South Dakota State in a 100-82 loss at Ralston Arena on Thursday. The Mavericks are now 11-19 (6-9 Summit League), while the Jackrabbits clinched the regular-season conference title and improved to 22-9 (13-3 Summit League).

Before a season-best crowd of 2,656 fans, junior guard Justin Simmons posted a game-best 29 points on 12-of-23 shooting from the field. Simmons added five rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block, and his scoring effort was his 11th with 20 or more points this season.

Senior forward Alex Welhouse added 16 points and a team-best six boards, and junior forward Matt Hagerbaumer dropped in a career-high 10 points with a pair of assists, shooting a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor.

South Dakota State had six players finish in double figures, led by double-doubles from Jordan Dykstra (14 points, 17 rebounds) and Nate Wolters (18 points, 10 assists). Chad White hit six 3-pointers for the night to notch a team-leading 23 points with nine rebounds, and Tony Fiegen added 14 points of his own and eight boards. Brayden Carlson had 13 points, and Marcus Heemstra rounded out the effort with 10.

As a team, SDSU shot .578 for the night, including a .655 effort in the second half. Omaha finished at a .438 clip, improving from .364 in the first half to .500 in the second and outscoring the Jacks 51-49 in the later stanza.

Omaha closes the 2012-13 season on Saturday, March 2, hosting North Dakota State. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. at Ralston Arena, and links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com. The game will be broadcast live on 1620 AM with Gary Sharp on the call and televised on Midco Sports Network and Fox College Sports Central. Saturday also marks Senior Day, and UNO will honor Welhouse, Tyler Egli and Jacques Coleman for their Maverick careers.