OMAHA, Neb. – The Mavericks continued a seven-game road trip at Mississippi State Monday night. The Bulldogs came out on top, 74-54. Omaha was led by Tony Osburn and Frankie Fidler who each scored 10 points in the loss.
 
The Mavericks fall to 3-5 overall.
 
Leaders for Omaha
Fidler and Osburn scored 10 points each. Osburn was 4-of-5 from the field and 2-of-2 from deep. His 10 points marks a career-high.
 
Fidler, Jaeden Marshall, and Marquel Sutton grabbed five boards each to lead Omaha. JJ White tallied three dimes, while Fidler had two steals.
 
Leaders for Mississippi State
Tolu Smith led the Bulldogs with 12 points and eight boards. He was 5-of-11 from the field. Smith also recorded two assists, one steal and one block. DJ Jeffries also finished in double-figures with 10 points.
 
Shakeel Moore led the team with four assists and four steals. Keshawn Murphy had three blocks.
 
Team Stats
The Mavericks shot 40.7 percent from the field compared to the Bulldogs who shot 43.1 percent. Mississippi State attempted 15 free throws, while Omaha shot only seven. The Bulldogs finished shooting 73.3 percent from the line.
 
Mississippi State led in second chance points (17-10), bench points (31-22), points in the paint (40-30), and fast break points (17-7).
 
Inside the First Half
The Bulldogs were favored heading into Monday's game, but the Mavericks challenged Mississippi State in the first half. Fidler gave Omaha its first two leads of the half with a jumper and second-chance three-pointer. Reed helped swing momentum for the Bulldogs with a layup at the 14:27 mark. Hamilton followed up with a three-pointer for a four-point lead. The Mavericks responded and erased the deficit with a 7-0 run to lead 12-9 at 10:30. Jungers, Arop, and Osburn all scored in the stretch.
 
Less than a minute later, Marquel Sutton sunk a three for Omaha's largest lead of the half, but an alleyoop dunk by Stevenson broke the Mavericks' stride and sparked a 7-0 run for the Bulldogs. Matthews connected from the arc at the 8:47 mark that took a permanent lead for the game. Jaeden Marshall went coast to coast helping Omaha get within one, but Mississippi State was able to extend its lead to ten at the break, 34-24.
 
Inside the Second Half
The Bulldogs were able to pull away in the second half, but not before Sutton and Marshall were able to keep the Mavericks within single digits in the opening three minutes. Mississippi State then went on a 17-0 run and held Omaha scoreless over the next eight minutes.  
 
Sutton finally snapped the run at the nine-minute mark with a layup that was quickly matched by Reed on the other end with a three. Russell and Osburn then traded threes for their respective teams. Omaha's scoring for the remainder of the half was sparse and could not match Mississippi State's tempo. The Bulldogs went on to win, 74-54.
 
Game Notes
-This marks the third straight game for Omaha that a player off the bench led or was tied as the team's leading scorer.
-Osburn netted a career-high 10 points.
-Kyle Luedtke made his season debut after battling a back injury to start the year.
 
Up Next
Omaha has three more games on the road before the Mavericks return to Baxter Arena. Omaha heads to North Texas for a 5 p.m. tipoff on Saturday, Dec. 3