OMAHA, Neb. – The Omaha men's basketball team opened the 2014-15 season on Sunday afternoon, defeating Central Arkansas 100-75 at Ralston Arena. With the win, the Mavericks improve to 1-0 (0-0 Summit League), while the Bears drop to 0-2 (0-0 Southland).

Senior guard CJ Carter and junior guard Devin Patterson paced UNO with 22 points apiece. Patterson's total was a career best, and he finished 8-for-12 from the field, 2-for-2 from 3-point range and 4-for-4 from the line. The Portsmouth, Va., native added five rebounds, seven assists and a steal. Carter, for his part, was 6-for-11 with four 3-pointers and went 6-for-7 at the line. The Omaha Benson graduate chipped in six rebounds and a career-high seven assists.

Senior forward Mike Rostampour recorded the fourth double-double of his career with 13 points and 14 rebounds, as well as one block and two steals. Junior forward Jake White had a monster first half, and he finished the game with nine points and 11 rebounds, nine of which came on the offensive end.

Junior forward Randy Reed also finished in double figures, scoring 10 points off the bench along with seven boards and a steal.

As a team, Omaha shot .447 (34-for-76) from the field, .500 from long range (11-for-22) and .677 at the charity stripe (21-of-31). UCA finished at a .439 clip (25-for-57) from the floor, .429 (9-for-21) beyond the arc and .667 (16-for-24) at the line.

Omaha outrebounded Central Arkansas 51-25, including 26-7 on the offensive end, prompting 30 second-chance points. The Mavericks also scored 29 of their points off 20 UCA turnovers.

Central Arkansas was led by Mathieu Kamba, who finished with 18 points. Jordan Howard was also in double digits with 14 points, as were Albert Christensson (12), Thatch Uhruh (11) and Jake Zuilhof (10). Christensson led the way on the glass with seven rebounds.

It was all Omaha to start the game, as the Maverick put together an impressive first half. The Bears committed five straight turnovers as UNO went up 6-0 before a 3-pointer by Rostampour and a tip-in by freshman Tre'Shawn Thurman stretched it to 11-0. Christensson had the Bears' first score of the game with a three at 14:58, after which Omaha worked ahead 18-3 by 12:46.

Over the next five minutes, UCA slowly chipped away and pulled within four on an Uhruh three, making it 27-23 UNO. The Mavericks took it back out to a double-digit lead with a pair of Patterson free throws, then hit their largest lead of the half when two more Patterson foul shots pushed it to a 17-point margin at 2:42. Having forced 14 turnovers and outrebounded UCA 31-12 in the first half, Omaha boasted a 47-31 lead by the break.

Carter scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half, sparking another Maverick scoring deluge. UNO outscored UCA 53-44 in the final 20 minutes, shooting .576 with six 3-pointers. The first three of the second half – by Patterson in transition on the feed from Carter – increased Omaha's lead to 57-36. Carter ignited the crowd minutes later with a fastbreak dunk with 5:29 left, beginning a rush of Maverick scoring. Redshirt freshman forward Rylan Murry hit a 3-pointer, Rostampour threw down a dunk and Carter splashed another three in a span of 90 seconds, making it 91-63. Back-to-back dunks from Reed and redshirt freshman forward Daniel Meyer pushed the score to 95-69, followed by a second trey from Murry and a final layup by Reed for the final score of 100-75.

Omaha returns to action on Wednesday, Nov. 19, traveling to Seattle. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. (CT) at Key Arena in Seattle, Wash., and links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com. Gary Sharp will also have the call of the game on 1180 Zone 2.