OMAHA A strong finish to the first half gave Omaha separation on Saturday afternoon and that was all the Mavericks needed as they beat 87-80 South Dakota State at Baxter Arena in Omaha.
SDSU (10-8, 1-2) jumped out to an 11-2 lead.Omaha (10-9, 4-0), who is in first place in the Summit League, then scored nine-straight points to tie things up with 13:43 left in the first half. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Kalen Garry gave the Jacks a 23-17 lead with 7:23 to play in the half. SDSU then led 29-25 with 4:40 to play in the half but the Mavericks went on a 13-0 run to end the half and led 38-29 heading into the locker room.
The Mavericks momentum continued into the second half as they went on a 12-3 run out of the break and led 50-33. SDSU used an 11-2 run to close the gap to 58-50. The Jacks would then cut the lead to 61-56 with 9:17 to play as Joe Sayler hit a three. However, Omaha pushed the lead back up to 11 with just under five minutes left in the game and SDSU was unable to get the lead back down to fewer than five the rest of the game.
SDSU shot 50% from the field and was 8-of-25 from three. Garry had a career-high 27 points and also had five rebounds and four assists. Oscar Cluff had 17 points and six rebounds. Sayler had 11 points and Owen Larson had nine points.
JJ White and Marquell Sutton each had 24 points to lead Omaha. White had seven assists and Sutton had eight rebounds. Lance Waddles also chipped in 19 points. The Mavericks shot 48.2% from the field and were 11-of-25 from deep.
SDSU had 34 rebounds and Omaha had 31. The Jacks had 10 turnovers and the Mavericks had seven. SDSU was 14-of-21 at the free throw line and Omaha was 22-of-33.
SDSU will return home with a pair of games next week. The Jacks will host North Dakota on Thursday at 7 p.m. They will then take on Oral Roberts at 4:15 p.m. Both games will be on Midco Sports or the Summit League Network.
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