FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Omaha men's basketball team erased an 11-point deficit Thursday night, rallying to knock off Fort Wayne 73-67 at Gates Sports Center. With the win, the Mavericks improved to 10-17 (4-11 Summit League), while the Mastodons dropped to 15-13 (8-7 Summit League).

Freshman forward Tre'Shawn Thurman paced UNO with 14 points, shooting 6-of-10 from the floor. The Omaha Central graduate pulled down a game-high eight rebounds and added a steal.

Four other Mavericks joined Thurman with double-figure scoring: senior guard CJ Carter (12), senior forward Mike Rostampour (11), junior guard Kyler Erickson (11) and junior guard Devin Patterson (10). Erickson's scoring total off the bench was a career high and included nine in the second half alone, and he finished 2-of-2 from the field and 6-of-7 at the line.

As a team, Omaha outshot IPFW .441 (26-of-59) to .426 (23-of-54), though the Mastodons' long range shooting gave them 10 triples for the night. In addition, UNO outrebounded Fort Wayne, 37-35, and forced 17 Mastodon turnovers.

Fort Wayne also had five scorers in double figures: Steve Forbes (13), Max Landis (13), Mo Evans (11), Michael Calder (11) and Joe Edwards (10). Joe Reed grabbed a team-leading six rebounds, while Landis and Forbes added five boards apiece.

Edwards led the way in the first half, connecting on 4-of-8 from the floor, including two 3-pointers, for 10 points. Evans also had a pair of threes in the first half, as he and Edwards contributed to the Mastodons' six treys in the first 20 minutes and helped Fort Wayne to a 36-28 lead by halftime.

IPFW's strong shooting beyond the arc continued to start the second half, as Calder nailed two treys and Landis hit another to help the Mastodons to a 51-40 advantage with 14:53 to go. From there, Omaha exploded on a 12-0 run behind eight points from Erickson, whose 3-pointer punctuated the surge and gave the Mavs a 52-51 lead with 9:47 to go.

IPFW kept it within one on free throws by Forbes and Landis, but a Patterson 3-pointer with 2:32 to go pushed it to 66-60 in UNO's favor. A Reed layup cut it to four, but Omaha continued to attack, with a Patterson layup at 1:19 stretching the score to 70-62. The Mavs matched their largest lead of eight with an Erickson free throw at 0:18 and went on to seize the road win, 73-67.

Omaha returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 28, traveling to IUPUI for the Mavericks' final conference game of the season. Tipoff is set for Noon (CT) at Indiana Farmers Coliseum, and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.com. The radio call with Gary Sharp will be carried on 1620 The Zone, and links to live audio, stats and video will be available on OMavs.com.