OMAHA, Neb. - In what was the single closest game of the season so far, the Mavericks came out on top tonight 80-77 against North Dakota thanks to a last-second buzzer beater three from
JJ White. With this win and a St. Thomas loss to South Dakota State, Omaha is now in sole possession of first place in the Summit League.
Omaha is now at 15-10 on the season, tying their win total from 2023-24 in seven fewer games, as well as 9-1 in Summit League play for the first time ever, tying the team with the 2016-17 and 2019-20 squads for the third most conference wins in the Division I era. As for the Fighting Hawks, they drop to 9-16 with a 3-7 league record.
Leaders for Omaha
Four Mavericks were in double figures tonight, led by White with 24 after scoring 12 in the final three and a half minutes. He also led the team with eight assists.
Also in double figures were
Marquel Sutton with 18 and a team-high eight rebounds,
Tony Osburn with 11 including three baskets from behind the arc, and
Lance Waddles who pulled down seven boards.
White also passed a couple of career milestones in the first half tonight, topping 300 career assists and 305 points this year for a new single-season high.
Team Stats
Despite shooting great overall, Omaha was actually outshot in every category tonight, with North Dakota holding the edge in FG% at .542 (26-for-48) to .475 (28-for-59), 3-PT FG% at .563 (9-for-16) to .421 (8-for-19), and FT% at .800 (16-for-20) to .762 (16-for-21).
Where Omaha made up the difference was in ball handling, turning it over just seven times vs. 11 for the Fighting Hawks and scoring 15 points off turnovers to their four.
The Mavericks also ended with a single rebound lead at 30 to 29.
Inside the First Half
Sutton had another hot start as he began the day scoring all seven of Omaha's points through the first five minutes, only having his run ended when Waddles scored the next five for the Mavericks to give them a 12-6 lead with just over 13 minutes left. The Fighting Hawks responded with a 10-0 run over the next two and a half minutes, though, and would hold on to their lead into the final 10 minutes.
The Mavericks would briefly pull back ahead with 5:30 to play after Omaha got three dunks from Sutton and Thomas, as well as a pair of threes from White and Osburn. White also had three assists during this run to get him to 300. With Omaha up 26-24 and under five and a half to play, the score would end up tied four more times over the final five minutes as both teams traded points down the stretch.
Tied 34-34 with 40 seconds left, White came up with a steal at half court and passed it to a wide-open Sutton who threw it down for another dunk. UND's coach would then be issued a technical foul, allowing Sutton to make two from the line as Omaha ended the half up 38-35.
Inside the Second Half
The back-and-forth nature of the game continued throughout the opening minutes of the second half as the lead changed seven times in three minutes. The longest run by either team was five straight points from Omaha to put the Mavericks up 47-46 at the 14-minute mark. By the midway point of the half, Omaha would take its largest lead of the period following back-to-back threes from Osburn within 30 seconds of each other to make it 59-54.
UND would again come back and go up 63-62 with under seven minutes left to play, only for
Isaac Ondekane to immediately come up with a dunk and put the Mavericks back on top. The score would end up tied seven more times down the stretch, culminating in a 77-77 draw with 14 seconds left. At that point White got the ball in bounds and waited almost the full 14 seconds before finding his opportunity, eventually sending one up with less than a second left and watching it fall in for the buzzer beater.
Game Notes
- All told there were 23 lead changes tonight, as well as 21 instances of the score being tied, 14 of which came in the second half.
- Sutton is now in 21st place on the all-time scoring list with 1167 career points and 16th on the rebounding list with 551.
- White reached a new career high of 324 points tonight, besting his previous mark of 304 set in 31 games back in his first year in Omaha.
Up Next
Omaha wraps up its three-game homestand this Saturday at 1 p.m. when they host North Dakota State.
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