Season Comes To An End For Omaha In Summit Semi Finals
Photo Credit: Omaha Mavericks
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Following their incredible comeback victory in yesterday's quarterfinals round, the No. 6 Omaha Mavericks could not repeat their late-game success as they were narrowly defeated 66-33 by No.7 Denver in the semifinals.
The Mavericks end their 2023-24 campaign with a 15-18 record.
Leaders for Omaha
Frankie Fidler capped off his historic season with another outstanding performance, leading the Mavericks with 27 points and two steals. His eight rebounds were third behind Marquel Sutton with nine (who also scored 10 points), and, in the final game of his college career, Nick Davis who led the way with 10 boards. Tony Osburn was also in double figures tonight with 12 points.
Leaders for Denver
Tommy Bruner led the Pioneers with 23 points and five 3-PT FGs tonight, followed by DeAndre Craig with 15 points. Isaiah Carr was first on the team with 10 rebounds.
Team Stats
Both teams were nearly even on FG%, with Omaha having a 0.4% lead at 38.5% to 38.1%. Denver led in 3-PT FG% (33.3% to 25.0%), while Omaha was also on top in FT% (70.8% to 47.1%). The Mavericks also had a big lead in rebounds at 42 to 35.
Inside the First Half
Two minutes in the Mavericks found themselves down 11-0 after Bruner started the day with three-straight makes from behind the arc. A pullup jumper from Osburn got Omaha on the board at 17:42, beginning a stretch in which the Mavericks actually outscored the Pioneers 13-10 through the first half of the period, ending with a layup from Davis.
Omaha entered the final 10 minutes down 21-13, but a huge block from Davis would set up Fidler to make the transition three and get Omaha within five at 9:46. Trailing 26-19 with under seven minutes to play, Fidler took it to another level and scored all 1 of Omaha's points over the next three minutes to tied the game at 30-30 with 3:16 to go. A pair of free throws from Osburn with 30 seconds left gave Omaha its first lead to end the half at 34-32.
Inside the Second Half
A quick three from Osburn opened the half and grew Omaha's lead to five points. Despite a couple buckets from Fidler to put him over 20 points on the day and grow the lead to seven, the Pioneers steadily chipped away and took advantage of an extended scoring drought to retake the lead 46-44 at 12:30.
A three-pointer from Fidler put Omaha back on top 49-46, before Grant Stubblefield snagged an offensive board and got it to Sutton to grow the lead to five points with under 10 minutes remaining. Denver continued to claw its way back, though, going back up 56-55 with a little over five minutes on the clock. From there both teams would trade leads for the next couple of minutes, until the Pioneers went up by four with 2:47 left. From there, they just barely managed to outlast the Mavericks and hold on for the win.
Game Notes
- Entering the day with 1480 points and 492 rebounds, Fidler became the sixth Maverick ever to top 1500 career points, moved into sixth place on the all-time scoring list with 1507 points, and finished with exactly 500 rebounds. He is now the 15th Maverick in history and the third among those who only played in the Division I era to reach both 1000 points and 500 rebounds.
- Nick Davis ends his one and only season with the Mavericks with 298 points, 180 rebounds, and 36 blocks.
