OMAHA, Neb. - The Mavericks wrapped up their home slate tonight with one last victory as they triumphed over Oral Roberts 71-70. This is the first time Omaha has beaten the Golden Eagles since January 4, 2020.
With the best home record in the Summit League at 11-3, Omaha improves to 14-15 overall and 7-7 in league play, while ORU slips to 11-16 and 5-9 in the conference.
Thursday was also Senior Night for the Mavericks, with graduate student
Nick Davis being the lone honoree.
Leaders for Omaha
Frankie Fidler posted his second double-double in a row tonight with 16 points and a team-high 13 rebounds.
Marquel Sutton was the day's top scorer with 19 points after shooting 8-for-12. Davis also made the most of his last game at Baxter Arena, scoring 16 points (his second most of the season) and pulling down six boards, as well as two blocks.
Leaders for Oral Roberts
Jailen Bedford was tonight's leading scorer with 24 points and a team-high five 3-PT FGs. Issac McBride was behind him with 14 points, as was DeShang Weaver who also led ORU with eight rebounds.
Team Stats
Omaha had a small lead in FG% at 42.4% to 41.7%, but it was the Golden Eagles who held the edge in FT% (76.9% to 70.8%) and 3-PT FG% (35.7% to 30.8%). ORU also barely edged out the Mavericks in rebounding at 36 to 34.
Inside the First Half
The Mavericks quickly found themselves in a deep hole to start the day, falling behind 13-4 five minutes in. Jumpers from Fidler and
JJ White helped cut the deficit to four points over the next two minutes, but the Golden Eagles immediately responded and went up 18-11 at 12:07. After two from the line from Sutton got Omaha back within six, back-to-back layups from Davis cut ORU's lead to three with nine minutes to play.
At 7:16, Fidler was fouled as he drained his second triple of the night and made the and-one to tie it at 24-24. Though a three from Bedford put ORU back up by three, two more from the stripe by Davis paved the way for
Grant Stubblefield to drive through the lane and make the go-ahead layup at 5:45. Despite six more points from Davis to put him at 13 points in the half, ORU managed to comeback over the final five minutes thanks to a couple of shots from deep.
Inside the Second Half
After going 0-2 from behind the arc in the first half,
Jaeden Marshall nailed two in the first five minutes of the second to give Omaha a 44-43 lead. ORU took the lead back 20 seconds later, only for the Mavericks to retake the lead on five-straight points capped off by a massive alley-oop from Sutton on the feed from White to draw an ORU timeout.
Sutton stayed hot heading into the final 10 minutes, making two more layups to put Omaha up by seven at 57-50. After ORU got back within one at 7:35, Sutton came through again, first by picking up a loose ball and jamming it in for the dunk and then making a jumper to make it 63-58 with just over five to go.
White got the lead back up to seven after flying through the lane to make it 65-58, before Davis made it 67-58 with a towering slam dunk. Just as they did all night, however, the Golden Eagles again utilized the long ball to make it 67-65 with a minute remaining. Marshall, though, managed to squash any hopes of a comeback with a clutch jumper with 30 seconds left to put the game away.
Game Notes
- Fidler became the eighth Maverick in history and the third to only play in the Division I era to top 1400 career points with 1407.
- Davis now has 36 blocks on the season, giving him the third most in a single season by a Maverick in the D1 era.
- In the end, the match was so close that out of 40 total minutes, ORU held a lead for 19:38, while Omaha led for 18:48.
Up Next
There are only two games left this season as the Mavericks finish things off on the road, starting with Kansas City this Saturday at 7 p.m.
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