OMAHA, Neb. -- The regular season came to a close for the Omaha men's basketball team Saturday afternoon, as the Mavericks fell 84-62 to North Dakota State at Baxter Arena.
Omaha, which drops to 9-21 (4-10 Summit League) on the season, will be the No. 7 seed for next weekend's Summit League Championship. North Dakota State, at 14-16 (5-9), locked in the tournament's No. 6 seed.
Leaders for Omaha
Sophomore
KJ Robinson turned in a team-leading 20 points for his second 20-point performance of the season, shooting 7-of-12 from the field with four 3-pointers. Junior
Mitch Hahn registered his fourth double-double of the year with 10 points and 10 rebounds alongside four assists and two steals.
Sophomore
JT Gibson and senior
Daniel Norl also added 10 points apiece, with Gibson chipping in three boards, two assists and a steal.
Leaders for North Dakota State
Five Bison players scored in double figures: Paul Miller (22), Cameron Hunter (17), Tyson Ward (16), Jared Samuelson (12) and AJ Jacobson (12). Ward and Miller pulled down an identical eight rebounds each, and Ward also dished out a game-high seven assists.
Team Stats
NDSU, which led the entire game, shot .552 (32-of-58) as a team while holding Omaha to .357 (20-of-56). The Bison hit 13 threes for the day, bolstered by five from Hunter alone, and they held a 35-29 advantage on the boards.
Inside the First Half
NDSU led by as many as 19 in the first half, shooting.621 (18-of-29) over the first 20 minutes behind 14 points apiece from Miller and Hunter. Robinson paced Omaha, shooting 5-of-8 with a trio of triples for 14 points, but the Mavericks trailed 46-33 at the intermission.
Inside the Second Half
NDSU cooled to .483 (14-of-29) shooting in the second half. The Mavericks took advantage early and used a 12-2 run to pull within six at 51-45 with 12:02 left, but NDSU responded with a 13-3 stretch of its own to put the game out of reach. `
Noting Today's Game
-Omaha celebrated its five seniors –
Alex Allbery,
Daniel Meyer,
Daniel Norl,
Renard Suggs and
Lamar Wofford-Humphrey -- with Senior Day festivities.
-Today's game marked North Dakota State's first win in Omaha since 2015.
Up Next
No. 2 seed Omaha takes on seventh-seeded South Dakota in the quarterfinals of the Summit League Championship next Saturday, March 3. Tipoff is at 8:30 p.m. at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, S.D. A complete tournament bracket will be released after the conclusion of all regular-season games.
