GRAND FORKS, N.D. - The Mavericks will split the season series with first-place North Dakota as they were downed 99-78 Thursday night to open their northern road trip.
Omaha is now 12-13 on the season and 5-5 in the Summit League, while the Fighting Hawks win their seventh in a row to take sole possession of first place in the conference at 15-10 and 7-3 in league play.
Leaders for Omaha
Marquel Sutton was Omaha's top offensive and defensive player today, earning his third double-double of the season with a team-leading 15 points and 11 rebounds. Also scoring in double figures were
Jaeden Marshall with 15 points,
Frankie Fidler with 13, and
Marcel Bryant with 12. Marshall also led the team with three steals.
Leaders for North Dakota
Three Fighting Hawks topped 20 points tonight: Treysen Eaglestaff (28), B.J. Omott (26), and Tyree Ihenacho (22). Leading the team in rebounds was Amar Kuljuhovic with 13.
Team Stats
North Dakota outshot Omaha in every category tonight, leading in FG% at 55.9% to 43.3%, 3-PT FG% at 50.0% to 18.8%, and FT% 71.4% to 63.0%. The Mavericks made it closer in rebounds, trailing just 38 to 36, and recorded one more steal at nine to eight.
Inside the First Half
After a quick basket from Fidler just 12 seconds in, the Mavericks only managed one more bucket through the opening five and a half minutes as the Fighting Hawks took a 13-4 lead. Omaha's scoring issues would persist throughout the first half of the period as UND went up 27-11 by the midway point. Fidler accounted for seven of the team's points and four of their six total rebounds.
Down 29-11 with just over eight to play, Sutton started getting into a groove as he went 3-for-3 over the next minute, with his second basket coming on the fastbreak after a block by Fidler. Following a couple of free throws from
Tony Osburn, Sutton and
Nick Davis made pair of layups with under six minutes left to cut UND's lead to 34-24. Over the final five minutes, though, momentum shifted back in North Dakota's favor as they outscored the Mavericks 17-7 to enter halftime up 51-31.
Inside the Second Half
UND continued to hold Omaha's offense in check for much of the second half, keeping the Mavericks off the board until 17:37 when Sutton picked up his 10th points of the night on a second-chance layup. Two minutes later, Sutton who score Omaha's next points on another layup. Back-to-back and-ones from
Grant Stubblefield and Marshall with under 15 to play got the deficit back under 20 points at 58-41. Marshall would later make the first three-pointer of the game for Omaha at 12:35 to keep it under 20 points.
Despite shooting better than they had all day, and even outscoring UND through the first 15 minutes of the half, the Mavericks' late-game efforts were not enough to retake control of the court from the Fighting Hawks as they dropped the first game of their road trip.
Game Notes
- It did not take long for Fidler to move into 13th on Omaha's all-time scoring list as he entered the day just two points out. He ends the night with 1320 career points.
- Coming off the bench halfway through the first, Bryant scored his first points since January 11, coincidentally against North Dakota. This was his third double-digit scoring game of the season.
- Marshall now has seven games with at least 10 points and has his first since scoring 13 against Texas A&M - Corpus Christi back on December 9.
- Sutton set a new season best in points as he bested his 2022-23 total of 305 tonight with 316.
Up Next
The Mavericks wrap up their North Dakota road trip this Saturday at 1 p.m. when they make the trip down to Fargo to face North Dakota State for the second time this year.
