The emotions poured out of Omaha men’s basketball senior point guard JJ White, in the bowels of Baxter Arena.
With his white undershirt covering his crying eyes, he walked to the Mavericks locker room after scoring the team’s final 12 points in three minutes and 12 seconds of regulation.
White’s 10th, 11th, and 12th points came on the buzzer-beating 3-pointer with a hand in his face that gave Omaha its ninth win in Summit League play, marking the best start to conference play in the Division I era at 9-1.
“I feel like my whole two years here kind of flashed before my eyes as soon as that ball went in,” White said. “Tonight was the night.”
𝗝𝗝 𝗪𝗛𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗕𝗨𝗭𝗭𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗡‼️‼️‼️@jay5white | #OmahaMBB pic.twitter.com/bUJsME6bnT
— Omaha Men’s Basketball (@OmahaMBB) February 7, 2025
It was the first game-winner of his life.
“These guys trust me with the ball in my hands, my coaches trust me with the ball in my hands,” White said.
White finished with 24 points on 7-of-12 from the field (3-of-7 from 3) and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line and eight assists, both game-highs. Marquel Sutton added 18 points and eight rebounds.
The Mavericks got what head coach Chris Crutchfield said they needed, a close emotional game in their 80-77 win over North Dakota Thursday night.
One key for Omaha to win the game was to win the rebounding war, which the Mavis narrowly accomplished, 30-29. The second was to win the points in the paint, which they also did, 38-30.
“The most impressive thing, we kept those guys to one offensive board in the second half,” Crutchfield said. “
There was little to no separation in the game. North Dakota and Omaha both made big shots, were able to run their offensive sets at a high level and the teams combined to shoot 17-of-35 from 3-point range. There were 23 lead changes and 21 ties in the game, with 14 of those ties coming in the second half.
“I really felt like both teams played well,” Crutchfield said. “I didn’t think anybody could get separation from anybody tonight. I thought both teams played well.”
“It came down to guys making shots at the end of the game, making free throws, and luckily, we came out on top making that shot at the end of the game,” Crutchfield said.
After the game, Crutchfield said he was a little disappointed in the defensive effort.
Omaha just didn’t start the game with a lot of energy, particularly on the defensive end, and the ball stopped or got stuck on one side of the floor in the first two stanzas of the game.
“That caused us some problems early in the game,” Crutchfield said.
The Mavericks needed other guys to step up and they got it. Tony Osburn finished with 11 points and was 3-of-5 from 3 in the game. He gave the Mavs a scoring punch with back-to-back triples before White’s finishing scoring run. Lance Waddles added 11 points and gave Omaha some solid defense in his 22 minutes.
It was the unsung guy, backup post Josh Streit, that made two huge plays in the final minute. He had a tip-out offensive rebound and took a charge with the game tied on the Fighting Hawks’ final offensive possession.
“We needed one stop to win the game and that was the stop that we needed,” Crutchfield said of Streit’s charge. “He’s done that all year for us, done things defensively that don’t get in the stat book, and he’s always been a guy to go to the offensive boards. He’s an effort guy, he’s a tough kid. I love what he did for us tonight and you need guys like that on your team to make those kinds of plays.”
The first place Mavs now play North Dakota State Saturday at Baxter Arena at 1 p.m. CT.
