Omaha
2-412-9; Summit
Fort Wayne
5-117-6; Summit
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Omaha | 44 | 38 | 82 |
| IPFW | 38 | 48 | 86 |
Fort Wayne Overcomes Mavericks, 86-82
Jan 31, 2014 | Men's Basketball
FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Omaha men's basketball saw its 10-point second-half lead erased on Thursday night, falling 86-82 to Fort Wayne at Gates Sports Center. With the loss, the Mavericks are 12-9 (2-4 Summit League), while the Mastodons improve to 17-6 (5-1 Summit League).
Senior guard Justin Simmons scored a season-high 28 points on 11-of-21 shooting with four 3-pointers. The Milwaukee, Wis., native added six rebounds, three assists and a block for the night.
Two other Mavericks had double-figure scoring nights, with 19 points from senior center John Karhoff and another 12 from sophomore guard Devin Patterson.
Junior forward Mike Rostampour led the way on the glass, pulling down a career-high 12 rebounds, including five offensive boards. As a team, Omaha outrebounded IPFW 36-31 and totaled 16 offensive rebounds.
Fort Wayne was led by 20 points off the bench from Joe Reed, who shot 8-of-10 and a team-best seven rebounds. Mo Evans (15), Joe Edwards (13) and Steve Forbes (11) rounded out the Mastodons' double-figure scoring, and Luis Jacobo added another nine points.
UNO shot 46 percent (32-of-70) from the field, 33 percent (9-of-27) from long range and 64 percent (9-of-14) at the free throw line. IPFW finished at 52 percent (30-of-58) from the floor, 41 percent (9-of-22) beyond the arc and 81 percent (17-of-21) at the line.
Driven by 17 first-half points from Justin Simmons, the Mavericks came out shooting 51 percent to start the game and scored 10 points off IPFW turnovers. Simmons opened with UNO's first seven points before a Patterson three pushed it to 12-7. A Karhoff tip-in gave Omaha its first double-digit lead at 32-22, and Simmons' knocked down his third three of the half – a long shot on the left side – to make it 35-24. Back-to-back Karhoff buckets then made it a 14-point margin at 44-28, though Fort Wayne closed with a 10-2 run to cut the Mavs' lead to 44-38 by halftime.
IPFW sheared it to 44-41 to start the second half, but Omaha responded with a 10-0 run with help from eight points by Karhoff that pushed it out to 54-44. The Mastodons came back with a 13-4 run of their own to pull within one, then tied it at 62-all on an Edwards three. Fort Wayne went up 68-63 on baskets from Edwards and Reed, after which the Mavericks tied it once more at 68-68. The game stalled one final time at 78-78, but Pierre Bland's two free throws and an Evans 3-pointer with 0:33 left gave IPFW all the lead it needed. The Mastodons, who are now 10-1 at home this season, finished it off with a final score of 86-82.
Omaha returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 1, traveling to IUPUI. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. (CT) at The Jungle in Indianapolis, Ind., and the game will be streamed live on ESPN3.com with Greg Rakstraw on play-by-play and Bob Lovell providing color commentary. KOZN 1620 AM will also carry the radio broadcast live with Gary Sharp calling the action, and links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.
