AKRON, OHIO - The Mavericks opened their weekend in the Akron Basketball Classic with a loss tonight as they were defeated by Alabama State 85-67 in what will be their first of three games in three days.
Omaha is now 2-4, while the Hornets are back at .500 at 2-2.
Leaders for Omaha
Marquel Sutton had another phenomenal night as he pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds while also scoring 22 points and shooting .563 (9-for-16) from the field.
Lance Waddles also scored in double figures with 11 points, while Josh Streit was second on the team with eight rebounds, his most as a Maverick so far.
Team Stats
Omaha was outshot in every category tonight, with ASU leading in FG% .475 (29-for-61) to .443 (27-for-61), 3-PT FG% at .462 (6-for-133) to .367 (11-for-30), and FT% at .583 (14-for-24) to .563 (9-for-16).
Rebounding was nearly dead even with the Hornets leading by one at 42-41.
Inside the First Half
Sutton did it all in the first half, leading the team with 16 points and six rebounds. He crossed into double figures after just eight minutes and ended the half shooting over 50% from the field. He provided the bulk of Omaha's scoring as the Mavericks found themselves down 21-10 after seven minutes, with Sutton scoring five of those points. Sutton would make it 21-15 a minute later after scoring another five, before
Lance Waddles drained a three and
Pablo Soumare a free throw to make it a two-point game at 10:51.
The Hornets quickly rebuilt their lead, however, and even went up by 14 at 4:34 with a 39-25 advantage. Fortunately, it was all Omaha the rest of the half as
JJ White led the way with his first eight points of the day all over the final four minutes to cut ASU's lead to 40-36 by the end of the half.
Inside the Second Half
Tony Osburn got Omaha started in the second after knocking his first three to cut the lead down to 41-39. A layup from Sutton at 16:28 would be the only other points scored by the Mavericks over the first five minutes as the Hornets grew their lead back to 10 points at 51-41. With just over 14 minutes to go, Sutton pulled down his 10th rebound of the night to secure his double-double.
At 8:30, with the game still close, Sutton crossed the 20-point mark with a clutch layup to get Omaha within six at 59-53. Despite Sutton's efforts, though, the Mavericks were unable to contain the Hornets over the last few minutes as ASU got its lead back into double digits to take the game.
Game Notes
- Sutton now has two 20-point performances and two double-doubles on the season, the first for each coming at Stetson.
Up Next
The Akron Basketball Classic continues tomorrow at 3 p.m. (CT) as the Mavericks take on the host Akron.
