OMAHA, Neb. – Frankie Fidler's career-game fell short at North Dakota Thursday afternoon. The freshman forward poured in 37 points to carry the Omaha offense, but the Fighting Hawks pulled off a 92-85 win.
 
The Mavericks improve to 4-20 overall and 3-10 in Summit League action.
 
Leaders for Omaha
Fidler scored a game-high 37 points. He finished 12-of-14from the field and a perfect 5-for-5 from deep. Fidler also tallied five boards, three assists, and three steals.
 
Marco Smith also scored double-figures on the day with 11 points. He tallied three steals on the day. Felix Lemetti grabbed a career-high eight rebounds and dished out a team-high four assists.
 
Leaders for North Dakota
Paul Bruns led the Fighting Hawks with 21 points. He hit four from three-point range. Ethan Igbanugo added 17 off the bench, while Tsotne Tsartsidze and Bentiu Panoam scored 15 each. Caleb Nero was the final UND player in double-figures with 12 points.
 
Bruns led the team with six boards, while Reid Grant tallied a game-high five assists.
 
Team Stats
The Mavericks shot 49.2 percent from the field, while the Hawks shot 50.9 percent. UND connected on 14 threes to Omaha's eight.
 
Omaha held advantage in the paint, 32-26. The Mavericks also led on second chance points, 9-8, and fast break points, 9-8.
 
Inside the First Half
The Mavericks jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first with four different players scoring in the first two minutes. Tsartsidze and Brady Danielson used two straight possessions to cut Omaha's lead to one, 9-7, but Akol Arop and Felix Lemetti answered with a dunk and three-points for a seven-point lead with 15:25 to play.
 
The Fighting Hawks began to heat up from deep. They hit four over the next five minutes of action helping them to a 23-19 lead following a make from Panoam at the 10:05 mark. Fidler and Arop made it a one possession game twice over the next three minutes, but another three from Panoam sparked a 14-3 run in favor of UND. Igbanugo capped the run with a three at the 2:52 mark for a 14-point lead. Nero's layup with 41 seconds left made it a 15-point lead for the largest of the game. Lemetti was able to cut it back to 13 with a jumper to end the half. UND led, 44-31.
 
Inside the Second Half
Using Lemetti's final bucket of the first for a spark, the Mavericks opened the second on a 10-2 run. Fidler came out of the break with back-to-back threes for Omaha. He hit a pair of free throws, which were followed by another set of jumpers from Smith and Fidler to get Omaha within six.
 
The closest the Mavericks would get in the second half was within five of the Fighting Hawks. Both times at the hand of Fidler. He hit two more from the charity stripe with 13:53 left on the clock. His three at the 12:38 mark made it a five-point game for the second time in under a minute, but UND pulled away again. Bruns got the lead back up to 13 points with a three-pointer at the 2:28 mark. Despite late efforts from Fidler, Smith, and Ferrarini, the Fighting Hawks held on for a 92-85 win.
 
Noting Tonight's Game
-Fidler is the first Maverick to score over 30 points in a game this season.
-It marks the second time in two weeks he's surpassed his career-high.
-Saturday was Fidler's 13^th game in double-figures, and Smith's eighth.
-Fidler's 37 points marks the most scored by a freshman in DI basketball this season.
 
Up Next
The Mavericks return home Thursday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. to host South Dakota.
 
Gary Sharp will have the call on 1180 KZOT. Links to the stream, audio, and live stats can be found on OMavs.com.