#15 Mavericks fall to #2 St. John's in NCAA tournament first round
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Omaha opened the game with a spark that looked like the 15-seed Mavericks would hold pace with two-seed St. John's, but shortly after the clock struck midnight in Amica Mutual Pavilion, Omaha's first trip to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship ended with an 83-53 loss to the BIG EAST regular season and tournament champions.
The game capped a historic season for Omaha that included winning a program-best 22 games and capturing both the Summit League regular season and tournament championships.
Leaders for Omaha
Omaha was led by its dynamic duo once more this season as JJ White led Omaha with 15 points and five assists, while Marquel Sutton scored 11. Isaac Ondekane led the Mavericks on the glass with 11 boards.
Team Stats
After being held to 20.6 percent shooting from the floor in the second half, Omaha finished the night shooting 25.7 percent (18-for-70). St. John's countered with a 45.3 percent shooting performance (29-for-64), including 37.8 percent from beyond the arc.
The Mavericks nearly matched the Red Storm on the glass with 45 rebounds to St. John's 47 boards.
Inside the First Half
Omaha jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first three minutes action. Paced by Sutton's 10 points in the first half, the Mavs led for nearly 14 minutes before St. John's took its first lead. Sutton threw down a dunk to even the score 22-22 with six minutes to play in the first half. The higher seed led by eight points late in the half, but the Mavericks rallied back to pull within two points, 30-48.
It was only a five-point deficit, 33-28, at the half.
Inside the Second Half
A 12-2 run in the first three minutes of the second half gave St. John's a 15-point lead. Tony Osburn answered to the Red Storm's first double-digit lead with a pull-up jumper to make it 38-30, however it was the last single-digit margin of the night. RJ Luis paced St. John's with 14 points in the second half to finish with a team-best 22 points.
White scored 12 of his points in the second half.
Game Notes
- Sutton moved to ninth place on the Mavericks' all-time scoring list, and third in the DI era, with 1388 points. He remained ninth on the all-time rebounds list with 638, which is second in the DI era.
- Osburn's single 3-pointer in the game tied him for Zach Jackson for 12th place all time in 3-point shooting (153).
- Omaha appeared in its first NCAA Division I tournament.
- The 2024-2025 team's 22 wins breaks the 2018-19 team's Division I era record 21 wins.
- During its membership in Division II, the Mavericks previously won conference tournament titles 2004, 2008 and 2010, and qualified for 12 NCAA Division II tournaments with the last one coming in 2010.