OMAHA, Neb. - The Mavericks, shooting over 50% today from behind the arc, completed the sweep of their three-game homestand when they beat North Dakota State for the second time this season 85-74.
Omaha has now topped its win total from last year and moved to 16-10 on the season for the team's highest win total since going 16-16 in 2019-20. The first-place Mavericks also improve to 10-1 in Summit League play, tying them for the program's second highest conference win total in the Division I era with the 2015-16 team that went 10-6. Only the 2018-19 squad's 13-3 record is better. As for the Bison, they drop to 17-9 overall and 6-5 in league play.
Leaders for Omaha
Tony Osburn had his best game of the season as he led the team with 25 points while shooting 8-for-13 (61.5%) from the field, including an impressive 5-for-7 (71.4%) on threes.
Marquel Sutton was right behind Osburn with 23 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while
Ja'Sean Glover had 17 points and
JJ White had 13 points and nine rebounds. All three of them made three from behind the arc.
Team Stats
Omaha swept the shooting categories today, beating the Bison from the field at .518 (29-for-56) to .459 (28-for-61), from deep at .536 (15-for-28) to .424 (14-for-33) and from the stripe at .800 (12-for-15) to .500 (4-for-8).
Once again the Mavericks were the better rebounding and ball handling team, besting NDSU 32 to 28 on boards and nine to 11 on turnovers.
Inside the First Half
The game was mostly even through the first six minutes of the day with both teams trading leads. It would not take long for Omaha to begin pulling away, though, thanks to some impressive shooting from behind the arc as Sutton and White each notched their third three-pointers of the day at 13:41 and 11:16 to grow Omaha's lead to 24-15. Later, Glover would continue to lay it on from deep for the Mavericks as he drained three from behind the arc on three straight possessions from 10:40-8:36 to make it a 13-point game at 33-20.
Omaha would only score eight more points over the final eight minutes of the half, however, as the Bison scored 17 to cut the Mavericks lead to 41-37 by the end of the period. All told, the Mavericks would total nine three-pointers in the half, shooting 56.3%.
Inside the Second Half
Omaha's sharp shooting from deep continued into the second half as Osburn started things off with a pair of threes within 20 seconds of each other to make it 47-38 just over a minute in. Then, at 17:23
Kamryn Thomas got the lead back to double digits at 50-40 with his first three of the day and the team's 12th overall.
Scoring would remain virtually tied heading into the final 10 minutes as Omaha was holding on to a 60-51 lead. Just like in the first, though, the Bison got hot over inside of eight minutes left, going on a 17-9 run from 7:58-3:24 that got them within one as the Mavericks led 69-68. With under three to play, Osburn made it a four-point game with his third of the day from deep, before adding another seven points over the next minute to put the game out of reach and secure the win.
Game Notes
- Sutton cracks the top 20 on the all-time scoring list after ending the day with 1190 points to put him in 20th. Likewise he moves up to 15th in rebounding with 559 career boards.
- White is now officially in the top 10 in program history in assists as he moved into 10th place with 314 career assists.
Up Next
Omaha's final road trip of the season starts next week when they head up to Brookings, S.D., to face South Dakota State on Thursday at 7 p.m.
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