OMAHA, Neb. - The Mavericks have surged into second place in the Summit League after beating North Dakota 79-61 on Thursday

Omaha improves to 9-9 overall and 2-1 in the conference as the team has now matched its 2022-23 win total with 13 games left to play. As for the Fighting Hawks, they slip to 8-10 on the year and are still looking for their first conference win at 0-3.

Leaders for Omaha 
Frankie Fidler turned in yet another historic performance to lead the Mavericks with 29 points. 18 of those points came from the free throw line as Fidler went 18-for-20, tying the program's all-time single-game record for free throws made. He also had a season-high six assists to lead the team, along with seven total rebounds which ties him with Marquel Sutton. 

Sutton also scored in double digits tonight with 14 points after shooting 5-for-8, while Tony Osburn recorded 12 points including a pair from behind the arc. Nick Davis also had a team-high three blocks to tie his season-best.

Leaders for North Dakota
The Fighting Hawks also had three players score double digits, led by Treysen Eaglestaff with 15 after he went 4-for-9 on three-pointers.B.J. Omott was right behind him with 12 points, while Amar Kuljuhovic earned a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Team Stats 
Once again the Mavericks completely dominated the shooting game as they edged out UND in FG% (49.% to 35.2%), 3-PT FG% (31.3% to 29.6%), and FT% (85.7% to 65.2%). Though Omaha was outrebounded 34 to 32, superior numbers in points off turnovers (18 to 11) and fastbreak points (13 to 4) highlight the Mavericks overall control of the court.

Inside the First Half 
Fidler wasted no time getting started at the line as he was fouled behind the arc and drained all three subsequent free throws to make it 5-4 Omaha three minutes in. After the Fighting Hawks briefly retook the lead, back-to-back layups from Davis and Ja'Sean Glover gave Omaha a 10-6 lead that would hold for almost the entire half.

Following a few more free throws from Fidler, Osburn and Jamal Ambrose made the first couple of three-pointers for Omaha at 12:59 and 12:06 to put the Mavericks up 20-8, their largest lead in the half. Though an Eaglestaff triple made it 25-24 UND with 5:57 remaining, Fidler, who had added another four from the line, made his first three-pointer of the night at 5:22 to give the lead back to Omaha. Five more Fidler free throws along with five points from Sutton helped send Omaha to half up 41-34.

Inside the Second Half 
Two Osburn jumpers within 20 seconds of each other got the lead back to double-digits at 45-35 just a minute and half into the second. The Fighting Hawks managed to get some momentum and pull within six of Omaha with 13:23 to go, but just like in the first foul troubles kept them from truly getting back into the game as Fidler continued to capitalize on it from the stripe.

A couple baskets from Glover helped get the lead back over 10 as the Mavericks entered the final 10 minutes up 56-45. Another three from Osburn made it 62-47 with less than nine minutes left, while five points each for Fidler and Sutton down the stretch grew the lead to 19 points with 1:51 remaining to eventually secure the win for Omaha.

Game Notes 
- Fidler's 18 free throws made put him in a three-way tie with Richard Jones (12/31/94) and Bob Mackie all the way back in 1955 for the all-time record as he stands alone as the D1 record holder.
- Fidler also becomes the first Maverick to top 300 points on the season (321) as he increases his career points total to 1164, tying him with Tre'Shawn Thurman (2014-17) for the 20th on the Mavericks all-time scoring leaderboard.
- Sutton ends the day with an even 200 points on the season after his 10th double-digit scoring game of the year.

Up Next 
The Mavericks finish off the week with a 7 p.m. game vs. North Dakota State this Saturday at Baxter Arena.