OMAHA, Neb. - In a back and forth thriller that concluded in overtime, the Mavericks were unable to close the door on South Dakota State as they were defeated 85-77 on the final Saturday at Baxter this year.
With only three games left in the regular season, Omaha is now 13-15 overall and 6-7 in the Summit League, while the Jackrabbits climb to 15-12 with an 8-5 conference record.
Leaders for Omaha
With his third double-double of the season,
Frankie Fidler fueled the Mavericks offense and defense with 26 points and 11 rebounds. Also reaching 20 points tonight was
Jaeden Marshall, who made a career-high five 3-PT FGs to lead the team.
JJ White also scored in double figures with 14.
Leaders for South Dakota State
SDSU had three players earn double-doubles tonight as William Kyle III scored 18 and led the team 12 rebounds, Charlie Easley led the team with 24 points while pulling down 10 boards, and Zeke Mayo recorded 22 points and 10 rebounds.
Team Stats
The Jackrabbits bested Omaha in FG% (46.2% to 39.7%) and FT% (81.8% to 76.9%), while the Mavericks slightly edged them out on 3-PT FG% (28.0% to 26.9%). SDSU held a large advantage in rebounding at 48 to 32, but Omaha had 11 steals to their five and only turned the ball over seven times vs. 13. This led to a 22 to 10 lead in points off turnovers.
Inside the First Half
Three minutes in, the Mavericks found themselves trailing 12-1 after a hot start from the Jackrabbits. A couple minutes later, Omaha's offense started to heat up as Fidler and Marshall would both score driving layups after picking up steal to cut the deficit to six. After SDSU made it 17-8 with 13:38 to go, an 8-0 scoring run featuring back-to-back layups from White and a triple from Marshall made it 17-16 with 10:38 remaining.
SDSU would hold a slim lead for the next few minutes, but after Fidler got fouled and made three from the line at 6:51,
Nick Davis spun around a defender and made the go-ahead hookshot to make it 25-24 with six minutes left. Five-straight points from Fidler grew Omaha's lead to six points with under five to go, but SDSU came back and retook a 34-32 lead at 2:24.
Marshall would drain his second triple of the half with a minute and a half on the clock to put Omaha back in front, only for a couple of Jackrabbit free throws to send the game to halftime tied at 35-35.
Inside the Second Half
The stalemate continued into the second half as neither team built a lead greater than three points for nearly 13 minutes. Davis starting things off by giving Omaha back the lead on a free throw and layup a minute in, while Marshall nailed his third three-pointer of the day at 14:35 to make it 45-44.
The lead would continue to alternate for the next five minutes, until a 10-2 run by Omaha gave the Mavericks their largest lead of the day at 61-55 with 7:31 remaining. Marshall bookended the run with his fourth and fifth 3-PT FGs of the night. White would later grow the lead to seven with a bucket from deep, but the Jackrabbits continued to fight back and managed to retake a two-point lead with 2:21 left to play.
Two from the line from Fidler would re-tie it at 67-67. He would then make it 69-67 with a jumper, before grabbing a crucial steal at 1:14 to set up White for the easy layup to put Omaha up by four. The lead was not enough, though, as SDSU once again came back to force overtime.
Overtime
Omaha was unable to get much going in overtime as they only scored four points, three of which came from
Grant Stubblefield. Meanwhile, the Jackrabbits were able to close it out by putting up 12 in OT and keeping the ball out of Omaha's hands with a 9-2 advantage on rebounding.
Game Notes
- Fidler moved up to eighth all-time on the Omaha scoring list with 1391 career points.
- Tonight's game featured 16 lead changes and nine ties.
- This is the first time in Marshall's career that he reached 20 points in a game.
Up Next
The Mavericks play their final home game of the season next week when they face Oral Roberts next Thursday at 7 p.m. on Senior Night.
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