ST. PAUL, Minn. - In one of the most important games of the regular season for either team, the Mavericks were unable to defeat St. Thomas on the road tonight as they fell 95-84 and now end the week in second place.
With just three games to go, Omaha is now half a game behind the Tommies in the standings at 10-3 in Summit League play with a 16-12 overall record. UST meanwhile is now 10-2 with a 20-7 record on the year.
Leaders for Omaha
Marquel Sutton led the way with 20 points and eight rebounds tonight, passing a major career milestone in the process as he became the 21st Maverick in history and eighth in the Division I era to reach 500 points in a single season.
Ja'Sean Glover shot 7-for-11 (63.6%) from the field today and finished with 18 points and a team-high four assists. Also in double digits were
Kamryn Thomas with 14 points and
Tony Osburn with 13.
Team Stats
Omaha actually outshot St. Thomas on field goals at 51.8% (29-for-56) to 50.9% (28-for-55) and free throws at 85.7% (18-for-21) to 83.9% (26-for-31). What ended up being the difference maker though was the deep ball, as the Tommies led the Mavericks 44.8% (13-for-29) to 38.1% (8-for-21).
Omaha was the better rebounding team today as well at 30 to 28, but also led in turnovers at 13 to six.
Inside the First Half
The game started out as close as expected in the early minutes as both teams were tied 14-14 with by the 13-minute mark. Over the next five minutes, though, the Tommies went on a 13-3 run to take a 27-17 lead with 8:46 to go. Glover's second three-pointer of the night accounted for all three of Omaha's points during this run.
Over the next five minutes both teams traded points as each scored exactly 11 apiece to leave the Tommies with a 38-28 lead with three and a half minutes to play. Thomas added another seven points to his total here to put him in double figures on the night along with Glover. Both teams would remain almost even in scoring in the final minutes as a buzzer-beating jumper from Glover ended the half with Omaha down 45-34.
Inside the Second Half
After a slow opening couple of minutes, the Mavericks started making progress towards chipping away at St. Thomas' lead inside of 16 minutes as a 7-0 scoring run featuring another five points for Sutton got Omaha made it 52-47 with 14 minutes to play. The Tommies would break their scoreless streak and go back up by nine with just under 10 minutes remaining, only for Osburn to make three straight from the line to bring it back to a two-score game.
The Mavericks kept the deficit in single digits heading into the final four minutes thanks to a the third three-pointer of the night from Glover at 4:06 to make it 74-66. In the final three minutes, though, the Tommies slowly started to pull away, getting their lead back over 10 and holding off one last push from the Mavericks inside of 60 seconds to win the match and take over first place.
Game Notes
- In addition to reaching 500 points on the season, Sutton also moved up to 18th on the all-time scoring list with 1230 career points. He also jumped a spot on the rebounding list to 14th place with 572 boards, as well as rising to 14th on the all-time field goals list with 470.
- This is the fifth time this year that Thomas has scored a season-high 14 points in a game.
Up Next
Omaha plays its final road game of the regular season next week when the Mavericks head down to Missouri to face Kansas City on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
