OMAHA, Neb. - The Mavericks opened their 2024-25 season with a bang tonight as they bested Mid-America Christian 85-69 tonight at Baxter Arena.
Omaha is 1-0 to begin the season, while the Evangels remain 3-0 as today's game goes down as an exhibition for them.
Leaders for Omaha
The Mavericks had four guys in double figures tonight, led by
Tony Osburn with 16. He also shot 4-for-7 from behind the arc to lead the team. Meanwhile,
JJ White and
Grant Stubblefield each dropped 14 points and
Ja'Sean Glover scored 12.
In his first Division I game,
Kamryn Thomas scored eight and led the team with nine rebounds. Similarly,
Lance Waddles, in his first game with the Mavericks, scored five and led the team with four assists.
Team Stats
Omaha outshot MACU across the board in FG% at .571 (30-for-52) to .407 (24-for-59), 3-PT FG% at .458 (11-for-24) to .360 (9-for-25), and in FT% at .700 (14-for-20) to .600 (12-for-20).
The Mavericks also steadily won the rebounding battle at 38 to 28.
Inside the First Half
It was a back and forth affair through the first 10 minutes as the Evangels kept pace with the Mavericks, trailing by as little as one with 12 minutes left. The Mavericks started to gradually pull away over the rest of the half, though, as they outscored MACU 22-11 and entered the locker room up 50-33.
Osburn bookended the first 20 with a couple of three-pointers as he totaled 11 points in the half. Stubblefield also reached double-figures thanks to a trio of free throws and a coast-to-coast bucket off his first steal at 11:08. The play of the half came with just over five minutes to play as White pulled down a defensive board, took it the length of the court and connected with
Marquel Sutton for the alley-oop to give Omaha its biggest lead yet at 42-28.
Inside the Second Half
The Evangels continued to fight back in the second half, cutting the Mavericks lead down to 67-57 at the 10-minute mark. Glover provided the bulk of Omaha's scoring as he notched seven points in three minutes early in the second to become the third Maverick to reach double figures on the night.
After MACU made it an eight-point game with just over eight minutes left, White shifted momentum back into Omaha's favor as he made the and-one to get the lead back to double-digits with seven to go. 40 seconds later he drained his first three of the year to get to 10 points on the day, before Osburn capped off the 10-0 scoring run to make it 77-59. Though the Evangels remained persistent down the stretch, Omaha was able to outlast them to secure the opening day victory.
Game Notes
- JJ's brother Juwan White suited up for MACU today and scored 15. Though he was outscored by one point, JJ finished with the superior FG% (80% to 50%) and more rebounds (six to one).
- Of the nine Mavericks to make a field goal today, five of them had a FG% above 60% (Osburn, Stubblefield, White, Glover,
Joshua Streit, and Thomas).
- Led by White and Stubblefield, Omaha's bench scored 44 points tonight vs. just four bench points from MACU.
Up Next
The Mavericks will continue opening week on the road, starting this Thursday when they head down to DeLand, Florida to face Stetson at 7 p.m. (CT).
Full Postgame Press Conference
