OMAHA, Neb. -- The Omaha men's basketball team snapped a three-game skid and won its second game of the season Wednesday night, defeating Arkansas State 77-74 at Baxter Arena.
 
Leaders for Omaha
Junior Zach Jackson led the Mavericks in scoring for the sixth straight game, finishing with 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting and a flawless 5-of-5 effort at the free throw line. Sophomore JT Gibson joined him in double figures with a career-high 17 points, hitting 6-of-12 from the field with a trio of 3-pointers alongside five rebounds, four assists and two steals. Senior Daniel Norl rounded it out with 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting and three more treys with seven boards and two helpers.
 
Senior Lamar Wofford-Humphrey led Omaha on the glass with eight rebounds.
 
Leaders for Arkansas State
Arkansas State got a game-high 23 points from Ty Cockfield, who finished 11-of-18 from the floor. Deven Simms (12) and Tamas Bruce (10) also finished in double figures.
 
Team Stats
A-State outshot Omaha .500 (30-of-60) to .431 (28-of-65), but the Mavericks hit at a .933 (14-of-15) clip at the free throw line to the Red Wolves' .769 (10-of-13). Omaha also outrebounded A-State 39-29, including 14-8 on the offensive end, and had a 16-7 edge in second-chance points.
 
Inside the First Half
Gibson paced the Mavericks in the first 20 minutes with 12 points, and Wofford-Humphrey pulled down seven boards to help Omaha to a 27-15 rebounding advantage. Despite a slow start for both teams, Omaha led early until A-State tied it at 23-23 with an 8-0 run during a three-minute Maverick scoring drought. A Jackson three quickly put Omaha back on top, and the Mavericks closed the half on a 7-0 run for a 35-26 lead at the break.
 
Inside the Second Half
An early 15-3 run helped build a 17-point Maverick advantage in the first 4:05 of the second half. Free throws from Jackson and Gibson pushed the lead to 54-35 with 14:35 left, but ASU rallied from there, eventually knotting it at 58-58 after a 12-0 spurt.
 
The Red Wolves twice cut the margin to one, then took a 70-69 lead on a Salif Boudie layup with 2:29 left. Sophomore KJ Robinson hit a pair of foul shots to make it 71-70, and Jackson chipped in a layup to extend it by two more with 1:21 to go. ASU rallied again on a jumper from Cockfield and a steal and a layup by Grantham Gillard, but a putback from freshman Matt Pile with 27 seconds left put the Mavericks ahead for good, 75-74. A pair of Norl free throws with eight seconds to go sealed it at 77-74.

Omaha is now 2-10 on the season, while Arkansas State drops to 3-7.
 
Up Next
Omaha returns to action on Sunday, Dec. 17, welcoming Cornell College. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. at Baxter Arena, and Gary Sharp will have the radio call on 1180 Zone 2. Links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.