It certainly was appropriate for Tony Osburn to surpass a career milestone with a 3-pointer.

After all, that's where the senior guard has made his mark as a Maverick.

When Osburn drained a trey in the opening minutes of last Thursday's win over North Dakota, it gave him 1,000 points for his Maverick career.

He became the 45th player in program history to reach 1,000 points. A majority of those points have come on 3-pointers as he's hit 194 treys while shooting 37.4 percent from behind the arc since arriving on campus in 2022.

Osburn has the second-most threes since Omaha transitioned to Division I 15 years ago. He trails only JT Gibson, who made 230 from 2015 to 2020.

"It's always an honor to get 1,000 points because it's hard to do," head coach Chris Crutchfield said.

Osburn is the fourth Maverick to top 1,000 since Crutchfield became coach in 2022. Frankie Fidler topped that mark two years ago, Marquel Sutton and JJ White did so last season.

"It means a lot, especially with my teammates Frankie, Marquel and JJ having all done it. Those are three great players," Osburn said. "It's important to me, but it's something probably my mom cares about more than I do."

Osburn's family cheered from the Baxter Arena stands when he reached that milestone. Tony said that included cousins who flew in from New England to watch games last week, and his hometown of Fairfax, Missouri, is less than two hours away from campus.

It was his offensive prowess in high school that drew interest from college coaches. Osburn averaged 35.5 points as a senior and scored more than 3,000 points in high school.

Crutchfield has seen Osborn mature as a player and a person during their four seasons together in Omaha.

"He could always shoot it, but he couldn't guard anybody," Crutchfield said of Osburn early in his college career. "He was emotional, but he's calmed down so much. He's so cerebral as a player. He knows what his strengths are, he knows what his weaknesses are."

Osburn initially was recruited to Omaha by the previous coaching staff, but he stuck with his commitment after Crutchfield and his staff were hired. He's glad he did.

"In hindsight, it's the best decision I ever made," Osburn said. "I stayed here all four years. Nowadays, not a lot of guys stay all four years. I did and I think we've been rewarded. I love it here and love the people."

One of those rewarding moments was last season when Osburn helped Omaha win the Summit League regular season and tournament championships for the first time. Osburn averaged 12.2 points last season when he hit a team-best 74 treys. 

However, Osburn said some of the games that stand out are the ones he didn't play his best.

"That fuels some of the good performances," he said. "You just try to stay mentally strong through the ups and downs."

He's had good performances lately after returning from a shoulder injury in the non-conference. Osburn is averaging 14.9 points and is playing a team-best 33.3 minutes per game.

"The guys know he's our leader and they follow him," Crutchfield said.

Last week, Osburn matched a season-high 27 points in the win over North Dakota. Then on Saturday against Summit leader North Dakota State, Osburn hit one of the most memorable shots of the season when he sank a guarded, game-tying 3-pointer from the left wing with 5.7 seconds left. He finished that day with 16 points.

He's hit 13 treys over Omaha's last three games. If he maintains that pace, he just may finish the season as the program's 3-point leader.

But those individual numbers aren't on Osburn's mind as he hopes to help guide the Mavericks on another postseason run.

"It's really the people that make this place. That's why it's so special to me," he said.