OMAHA, Neb. - In a contest between the last two undefeated teams in Summit League play, the Mavericks stayed perfect and moved into first place in the conference after topping St. Thomas 89-78 tonight.
The Mavericks winning streak has now grown to eight straight games, matching the program's longest streak since the 2007-08 season. Likewise, at 6-0 to begin Summit League play this is the program's longest win streak to open conference competition since winning 12 straight back in 1983-84.
Omaha is now atop the league at 6-0 in conference play with a 12-9 overall record. As for the Tommies, they drop to second place at 5-1 with a 15-6 overall record and see their winning streak end at five.
Leaders for Omaha
Marquel Sutton led the Mavericks with 24 points, good for his 10th game of the season scoring at least 20. He also led the way at the board with nine rebounds. Also in double figures were
JJ White (15) and
Ja'Sean Glover (14), who each had a team-high four assists, as well as
Kamryn Thomas (14) and
Tony Osburn (10).
Team Stats
Once again the Mavericks outshot the opposition on field goals at 53.6% (30-for-56) to 49.2% (29-for-59) and on three-pointers at 43.8% (7-for-16) to 31.0% (9-for-29). Both teams were tied in on free throws at 64.7% apiece, though, Omaha made 22 while St. Thomas only had 11.
The Mavericks also had a huge lead in rebounding at 38 to 26, giving them their largest margin of victory all season.
Inside the First Half
Omaha burst out of the gate on a 9-2 run to start the night. After a Maverick shooting foul sent the Tommies to the line, momentum shifted as UST got hot and soon tied the game at 13-13 with 14:38 to go. From there it was a back and forth affair as both teams would score 17 points apiece by the five-minute mark to remain deadlocked at 30-30. Omaha's balanced offense during this span saw six Mavericks record a bucket, including three-pointers from Sutton, Glover, and Waddles.
With under five to go, Omaha quickly built the largest lead by either team since the opening minutes of the game as Osburn made a pull-up jumper, followed by two from the line from Glover who later recorded a steal and set up Thomas for the second-chance layup to make it 36-30 with under four minutes remaining. Thanks to one last layup from Glover with five seconds left the Mavericks were able to hold on to a six-point leading heading into halftime.
Inside the Second Half
After the Tommies opened the half with a three, Omaha went on to score 11 of the next 15 to take its biggest lead of the night at 53-43 by 15:50. Osburn and Sutton accounted for all 11 of these points as both crossed into double figures on the day. By the 14-minute mark the Mavericks got the lead into double digits after another six points from Sutton including his first three of the day.
Over the next seven minutes, though, the Tommies once again came back and cut the lead to five as Omaha found itself up just 70-65. The wild swings in momentum continued through the final minutes, as an 8-1 run by the Mavericks got the lead back to 12 with four minutes left, only for St. Thomas to immediately respond with a 9-2 run of their own to cut Omaha's lead to four with three minutes to go. In the end, though, it was the Mavericks who got hot right at the end with a 10-3 advantage led Sutton with another six points to carry Omaha to the finish line.
Game Notes
- Sutton continues his climb up the all-time scoring leaderboard as he ends the night in 31st place with 1077 points, three shy of 30th. He also moves up the all-time rebounding list as he is now tied for 21st with 518.
- For the third time this year and second game in a row Omaha has had five players in double figures.
Up Next
Omaha concludes the week on the road with a trip down to Tulsa to face Oral Roberts this Saturday at 7 p.m.
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