Senior forward
Ryan Curtis scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Mavericks to a 76-65 non-conference win over Doane College Saturday afternoon in front of 2,250 fans at Sapp Fieldhouse.
The Mavericks, who open North Central Conference play Thursday at North Dakota, improved to 9-7, while Doane fell to 6-10.
Curtis scored 18 of his points and UNO shot 53 percent from the field in building a 42-32 halftime lead over the Tigers. The Mavericks continued the momentum after the break, opening a 60-40 lead with 12:10 to play, but then had to withstand a rally by Doane.
The Tigers went on a 19-7 run over the next nine minutes, pulling within 67-59 on a jumper by Ben Streck with 3:33 left. The Mavs went 7:45 without a field goal during the run by the Tigers, with junior guard
Zac Robinson ending the drought with a short jumper with 3:05 left to give UNO a 69-59 lead.
Two free shots by Matt Vecchio helped the Tigers get back within eight with 1:39 left, but
Calvin Kapels and
Quantel Murphy each converted a pair of free throws to stop the threat.
UNO cooled to just 36.4 percent shooting from the floor the second half and finished at 46.4 percent to Doane's 42.1 percent.
Besides Curtis, Kapels scored 17, Robinson 11 and Murphy 10 points. Kapels added seven assists and Murphy five steals. For Curtis, it was a season-high in scoring, despite fouling out with 3:52 to play. It also was his third double-double of the season.
Brent Cole led the Tigers with 17 points, Todd Kraus had 13 and Luke Beerbohm 12 to go with a team-high 10 rebounds.
