Omaha City Wire

Frankie Fidler exploded for a season-high 33 points Thursday night as the Mavericks shot 58 percent from the field. It somehow wasn't enough to outlast St. Thomas who went on to win 89-83. The difference came at the foul line with the Tommies sinking 27 free throws to Omaha's 21.

The Mavericks fall to 7-17 overall, 3-9 in the league.

Omaha Leaders

Fidler was 12-of-18 from the field and 8-of-12 from the foul line. He grabbed eight rebounds and tallied two steals and an assist. 

Off the bench, Akol Arop and JJ White scored double-figures. Arop netted a career-high 13 points and added seven rebounds. White scored 10 for Omaha. Ja'Sean Glover dished out a career-high five assists.

St. Thomas Leaders

Four of the five starters scored double-digits for the Tommies. Riley Miller scored 23 on 6-of-11 from the field and 9-of-10 at the line. Andrew Rohde added 20 points. He went 10-for-10 at the line. Rohde tallied three rebounds and four assists.

Parker Bjorklund scored 17, while Brooks Allen added 13 points. Both grabbed a team-high six rebounds.

Team Stats

The Mavericks shot 58 percent from the field, 50 percent from three, and 75 percent at the line. The Tommies were 50.9 percent from the field. They finished the nigh just 6-of-21 from three, but made a difference at the line going 27-of-29.

Both the Mavericks and Tommies scored 42 points in the paint. Omaha's bench led in points, 31-14, and the Mavericks led on the fast break, 10-9. The Tommies led in points of turnovers, 20-8, and on the second chance, 11-8.

Inside the First Half

St. Thomas scored the first six points Thursday night with back-to-back three pointers to set an early tone. Glover matched the second UST three with one for Omaha before Bjorklund scored the next six Tommie points. St. Thomas got their lead up to nine twice bt the 13-minute mark. Ben Nau's three made it a 17-8 game for the Tommies.

The Mavericks started to chip away at the UST lead and got it down to just four points with the help of Tony Osburn by the midway point. It wasn't until after the first 15 minutes of play that the Mavericks went on a 15-4 run to take a 44-39 lead with 28 seconds to play. Rohde put two away at the foul line before Allen tied the game 44-44 with a last second three going into halftime.

Inside the Second Half

Both Omaha and St. Thomas traded baskets to start the second half and saw 11 lead changes over the first 14 minutes of action. The Mavericks took their first lead of the half with a three from Fidler less than there minutes in. The trio of Arop, White, Fidler were the Mavericks that retook the lead several times until Allen tied the game at the line with 7:21 to play. 

Following the free throws, the Nau connected on a jumper in the paint for the Tommies and it would capture the lead for UST for the remainder of the game. Fidler completed a three-point play at the 5:44 mark to cut the lead to two points, but UST held on an won, 89-83, after help at the foul line.

Game Notes

-Fidler's 33 points marked a season-high. He previously scored 28 vs. Idaho in November,

-It is Fidler's third career game with at least 33 points. His career-high is 37 scored last season at North Dakota.

-It marks Fidler's 35th career game in double-figures and 17th this season.

-Arop scored a career-high 13 points. He surpassed his high set earlier this season by one point.

Up Next

The Mavericks host the Leathernecks Saturday. Omaha and Western Illinois tipoff at 2 p.m. in Baxter Arena.

Original source can be found here.