Omaha Downs North Dakota State, 90-77

North Dakota State was hot in the 2nd half during a late run, but it was far too little, far too late as the Omaha Mavericks (8-8, 2-1 Summit) coasted to a 90-77 win over the Bison (6-10, 1-2).

“That was a good old-fashioned butt-whooping” said NDSU Head Coach David Richman after the game, as Omaha reached out to a 26 point lead at one point in the second half. “We have some youth going through their first road experience, and we played like that.” NDSU junior forward Deng Geu came off the bench and had a big offensive impact, scoring 14 points in 16 minutes and collecting three offensive rebounds. “[Deng] was good from a scoring standpoint, but too many turnovers. When you turn the ball over against a team like Omaha, that really compounds itself since they’re so electric on the open floor.”

“I’m very proud of our guys from their bounce back [from a close loss to Oral Roberts]…I really thought our guys refocused tonight,” said Omaha Head Coach Derrin Hansen. The Mavericks struggled against Oral Roberts on the glass, recording just 5 first-half rebounds in their last game.

One-Two Punch

Omaha’s Mitch Hahn exploded out of the gate, netting 10 points in the first four minutes of action, to the delight of a sizeable section of Fremont High School students in the crowd supporting one of their former stars. The senior finished the day with 20 points.

Silenced over the first 18 minutes action, sophomore Matt Pile scored all 19 of his points in his final 17 minutes on the floor, owning the offensive glass (7 total offensive rebounds) on the way to his 5th double-double of the season. Hahn and Pile are tied atop the list of active Mavs players with 6 career double-doubles each.

Ball Control

Omaha’s 7 turnovers matches their season-low, and marks 7 of their past 8 games with fewer than 10 turnovers.

Coaching Stats

Here are the stats that I kept track of that don’t show up in a box score.

* Settled 3s: Three Point attempts not in-system. Settled Looks
* Rhythm 3s: Three Point Attempts in-system, either from a pass or a good pull-up.

In the 2nd half, Omaha extended their lead by getting to the paint, finishing at the rim, and drawing fouls. Omaha shot 14 free throws in the 2nd half, compared to NDSU's 4. The Mavs drew 11 fouls in the 2nd half, and finished with 30 points in the paint. This made the difference when North Dakota State really started to heat up from long range, giving Omaha a big cushion to survive easily.