OMAHA, Neb. -- The Omaha men's basketball team rallied from a double-digit second-half deficit but faltered Sunday afternoon, dropping an 87-84 decision to Oral Roberts at Baxter Arena. The Mavericks are now 7-8 (1-1 Summit League), while the Golden Eagles are 5-11 (1-0).
 
Leaders for Omaha
Coming off a career scoring effort Friday night, JT Gibson tallied his second straight 20-point scoring performance with a team-leading 21 on 7-of-16 shooting with four 3-pointers. The Brooklyn Park, Minn., native added three rebounds, a career-high eight assists and three steals.
 
Zach Jackson joined Gibson in double figures with 19 points and a team-high seven rebounds. KJ Robinson was 5-of-8 from the field with a trio of threes for 14 points alongside a rebound, four assists and a steal, and Mitch Hahn added 12 points, four boards, four assists and a steal.
 
Leaders for Oral Roberts
Emmanuel Nzekwesi, who shot 12-of-19, had a double-double for ORU with 28 points, 14 rebounds and two assists. DeShang Weaver added 21 points, all on a 7-of-10 showing from three, and Kevin Obanor followed with 19 points and eight rebounds. Sam Kearns rounded it out with 11 points, four rebounds, seven assists and four steals.
 
Team Stats
ORU shot .534 (31-of-58) to Omaha's .470 (31-of-66) and had the advantage inside, outrebounding the Mavericks 37-23.
 
Inside the First Half
ORU shot lights out in the opening 20, hitting at a .633 (19-of-30) clip. Nzekwesi led the charge with 16 points and six rebounds with 7-of-11 shooting, and the Golden Eagles had a 21-5 advantage on the glass.
 
After ORU went up 32-22 with 8:16 to the break, Omaha managed to trim the margin to five on a Hahn jumper at 33-28 with 5:20 left. But the Golden Eagles pushed it back out to an 11-point lead twice over the final minute and a half and led 49-38 at the intermission.
 
Inside the Second Half
The Mavericks pulled within six when Zach Jackson single-handedly opened the half with a 5-0 spurt, but ORU again took it to an 11-point advantage twice by 15:38.
 
Omaha rode an 11-0 run from 13:31 to 10:54, capped with a Gibson trey to go back on top, 62-61.
 
The Golden Eagles broke through deadlocks at 64-64, 67-67 and 71-71 and, with the help of a three key offensive boards, staved off Omaha's late challenge, as the Mavericks got within two four times in the final four minutes. After a Matt Pile tip-in made it 85-83, Obanor made two free throws with 29 seconds left to put the Golden Eagles up 87-83. With four seconds to go, Gibson went to the line and hit one of two shots, and ORU missed the front of a 1-and-1 on the other end. A final Maverick attempt from half-court missed the mark, as ORU escaped, 87-84.
 
Noting Today's Game
-JT Gibson remains the only Maverick to hit a 3-pointer in every game this season.
-Omaha's four-game win streak came to an end today, as did its six-game streak of single-digit turnovers as a team.
-Oral Roberts leads the all-time series with Omaha, 8-3.
 
Up Next
Omaha closes its three-game home stand on Wednesday, Jan. 2, welcoming North Dakota State to Baxter Arena at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on Midco and YurView Cox Channel 1013, and Gary Sharp and John Karhoff will have the radio call on 1180 Zone 2. Links to live video, audio and stats will be available on OMavs.com.