Mavericks Win Season Opener at UCSB, 74-60

Saturday, November 12

Santa Barbara, Calif.

4:00 PM

Omaha

1-0

UC Santa Barbara

0-1

Team	1	2	F
Omaha	34	40	74
UC Santa Barbara	30	30	60

Mavericks Win Season Opener at UCSB, 74-60

Nov 13, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Omaha Athletics

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- The Omaha men's basketball team kicked off the 2016-17 season Saturday afternoon, defeating UC Santa Barbara 74-60 at The Thunderdome. The Mavericks start the season at 1-0 (0-0 Summit League), while the Gauchos move to 0-1 (0-0 Big West).

Sophomore forward Mitch Hahn led all scorers with 15 points, contributing five 3-pointers off the bench along with five rebounds.

Sophomore Zach Jackson added a career-high-tying 14 points and a game-high and career-best eight rebounds with two assists and a steal. Junior Tre'Shawn Thurman also had 14 points -- his on 7-of-9 shooting -- with four boards and two blocks, while senior Tra-Deon Hollins rounded it out with 12 points, eight assists, three steals and a rebound. He finished a perfect 5-of-5 at the line.

Omaha and UC Santa Barbara shot an identical .400 (24-of-60), with the Mavericks also sinking 17-of-21 at the line. The Mavericks had the edge in rebounding, 39-37.

UCSB was led by three double-figure scorers: Amy Lakoju (12 points), Gabe Vincent (12) and Eric Childress (12). Vincent and Lakoju each pulled down a team-high six rebounds.

The Mavericks came out firing, building an immediate 6-0 lead with an opening dunk and a jumper from Thurman plus a Tyus slash through the lane. UCSB took its first lead at 9-8 on a Vincent Terrell layup, but Omaha took a 13-12 advantage with a pair of Tyus free throws at 12:23.

After a Hahn triple that made it 16-14, the Gauchos went ahead 20-16 with back-to-back Vincent threes and held off the Mavericks until 1:42 left in the half. At that point, Jackson nailed a triple of his own to put Omaha back on top, 32-20, and a jumper in the closing minute by junior guard Daniel Norl made it 34-30 by halftime.

The Mavericks, who ended the first half on a 10-0 run, extended the spurt to 13-0 when Hollins opened the second half with a triple. On the next play, UCSB cut it to 37-32 with a J.D. Slajchert layup, but it was the closest the Gauchos would get. With 10:49 left in the half, a 3-pointer by freshman KJ Robinson stretched Omaha's edge to 58-41, and the Mavericks eventually snared their largest lead of the game at 71-50 on Hahn's fifth trey of the game at 2:55. UNO capped it with a final score of 74-60.

The Mavericks are now 10-2 in season openers in the Derrin Hansen era.

Omaha returns to action on Sunday, Nov. 13, visiting USC. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. CT at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, and the game will be televised on Pac-12 Network. Gary Sharp will also have the radio call on 1180 Zone 2, and links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.