Box Score OMAHA, Neb. – The Omaha men's basketball team returned home Saturday afternoon, falling to Fort Wayne 75-65 at Ralston Arena. UNO is now 8-13 (2-7 Summit League) on the season, while Fort Wayne improves to 11-11 (4-5 Summit League).
Seniors
Mike Rostampour and
CJ Carter led the Mavericks offensively. Rostampour finished with a team-high-tying 16 points on an 8-of-13 shooting effort. The forward from West St. Paul, Minn., added a team-best seven boards and a block in 29 minutes. Carter contributed 16 points as well, chipping in four rebounds, four assists and a career-high-tying three blocks. The Omaha native shot 6-of-11 from the field with a pair of threes in 37 minutes of action.
Junior guard
Marcus Tyus also finished in double figures, totaling 12 points, four boards, three assists and a steal. Junior guard
Devin Patterson added 10 points, two rebounds, two steals and a helper.
As a team, Omaha shot .472 (25-of-53) from the field, .375 (6-of-16) from downtown and .692 (9-of-13) from the charity stripe. Fort Wayne finished the day shooting .446 (29-of-65) from the floor, .261 (6-of-23) beyond the arc and .846 (11-of-13) at the foul line.
Fort Wayne was paced by Steve Forbes, who finished with the game's only double-double on 15 points and a game-high 10 boards. The Mastodons had two other players reach double figures on the afternoon, with Mo Evans at 17 points and Joe Edwards at 16. Evans dished also out six assists, while Edwards helped out the defensive effort with a game-high five steals.
After IPFW took an early 10-4 lead on threes by Isaiah McCray and Max Landis paired with a Landis layup, Omaha went up 14-12 with back-to-back treys from Patterson and freshman forward
Tre'Shawn Thurman. Another Thurman three made it 19-16 with 9:09 left, but IPFW stalled the score three more times to bring it to 24-24. Free throws pushed the Mavericks ahead to end the half, with Omaha up 29-27.
In the second half, UNO took its largest lead at 54-48 on a Carter 3-pointer, but it was ultimately the Mavericks' last advantage of the game. Fort Wayne went on an 8-0 run to knot the score and go ahead, capped with consecutive layups by Jure Gunjina to put the Mastodons up 56-54 with 7:00 to go. Omaha tied it a final time at 56-all with a Rostampour layup, but IPFW surged ahead 66-60 with 3:00 on the clock. Free throws and a Forbes dunk sealed it in the closing minutes for Fort Wayne, which clinched the win at 75-65.
Omaha returns to action on Thursday, Feb. 5, traveling to North Dakota State. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. in Fargo, N.D., and 1180 Zone 2 will carry the radio broadcast with Gary Sharp on the call. Links to live video, audio and stats will be available on OMavs.com.
