Omaha men’s basketball used a hot start and strong finish from junior Tony Osburn to seal an 85-74 win over North Dakota State Saturday afternoon at Baxter Arena.
The first-place Mavericks also improved to 10-1 in the Summit League, tying the program’s second-highest conference win total in the Division I era (10-6 in 2015-16). The 2018-19 Mavericks have the best record at 13-3.
“Really, really good ball game. Very competitive game.” Coach Chris Crutchfield said after the win. “Both teams, I thought, played well offensively. I thought both teams played good defensively … I just thought our team was the toughest team down the stretch.”
The game started fast; the teams combined to shoot 16-of-31 from 3 in the first half. Omaha built a 13-point lead (35-22) at the 7:17 mark.
The Mavs then began settling offensively and North Dakota State made some plays. In the final seven minutes of the half, the Bison cut the Omaha lead to just four (41-37) at the break.
In the second half, Omaha was more intentional about getting the ball in the paint, and that balanced the offense a little more.
Osburn had two stretches in the second half that were clutch. He made two 3-pointers to give Omaha a 47-39 lead just 69 seconds into the half. The second came later.
Crutchfield said he told his team that the toughest team down the stretch in the last three minutes was going to win the game. That was during a timeout when North Dakota State had cut the Omaha lead to one (69-68) with 3:24 left in the game.
After that timeout, Osburn scored eight of the team’s next nine points in just under two minutes.
“Especially after their big run to end the half, you’ve got to come out and steady the ship,” Osburn said. “We are an older and mature [team] … I’ve been a part of two younger teams that have panicked during stuff like that and there was just no panic in the locker room. We did what we needed to do. We got good shots and we made them.”
For the game, the junior from Mound City, Missouri, scored a game-high 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting including 5-of-7 from 3-point range.
Multiple guys stepped up, Crutchfield said after the game, but the key contribution off the bench was Ja’Sean Glover. In his 24 minutes, Glover scored 17 points on 7-of-11 from the field, including 3-of-6 from distance.
“At the end of the day, it is just a basketball game,” Glover said as to how he stays ready. “So going out and giving it my all sticking to the game plan and essentially just playing free. We know at any point anybody can get hot.”
Marquel Sutton nearly matched Osburn with an efficient 23 points and eight rebounds while JJ White followed up his heroics against North Dakota with 13 points and nine assists.
The first-place Mavs now hit on the road for two tough tests, at South Dakota State Thursday and at second-place St. Thomas Saturday.
