SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – No. 7 seed North Dakota gave everything it had to the final buzzer, but the Fighting Hawks fell, 81-76, to No. 2 seed Omaha in the Summit League Quarterfinals on Saturday night in front of 8,071 fans in Sioux Falls.
 
UND (12-18) rallied from a nine point deficit on four-different occasions, but could not quite get over the hump as the Mavericks (20-10) move on to the semifinals vs. the winner of No. 3 Purdue Fort Wayne and No. 6 South Dakota.
 
Marlon Stewart poured in a game-high 26 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the field to finish just three points off his career high. The junior also added a pair of assists while playing most of the second half with four fouls to post his 12th game in the last 13 with at least 10 points.
 
Aanen Moody exploded off the bench with 14 points on four made threes, with 11 of those 14 coming in the first half. The redshirt freshman also finished with three rebounds and a block while crossing over the 30-minute plateau for the seventh time this season.
 
Billy Brown, who did not score in the previous two games, was the final Fighting Hawk to reach double figures with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting. The junior scored all of his points in the first half, grabbed seven rebounds, dished out two assists, and recorded a block in a team-best 37 minutes.
 
Seniors Conner Avants and Cortez Seales played their final games in North Dakota uniforms on Saturday, scoring five and eight points respectively. Seales was held under 10 points for the first time in 10 games, but scored eight points in the second half to help lead the comeback effort. Avants, who has been battling back from injury, added three rebounds to go alongside his five points in 18 minutes of play.
 
Four Mavericks reached double figures in the win, led by Zach Jackson's 21 points and Wanjang Tut's career-high 18 points. Omaha won the rebounding battle, 41-30, but Filip Rebraca's 10 boards led everyone.
 
Both teams went shot-for-shot in the opening six minutes of action, as Moody tied the game at 11 with a triple off a sweet dish from Stewart on the fastbreak; however, Omaha responded with nine straight points over the next minute-plus to build a 20-11 lead with just under 13 minutes to play in the opening half. UND answered back with a spurt of its own, striking for nine of the next 11 points to cut the deficit down to just two, 22-20, with 10:58 to play in the first stanza.
 
The stretch of runs continued throughout the first half as the Mavs pushed the lead back to eight by holding the Hawks scoreless for just under three minutes, but UND followed by holding Omaha without a bucket for two minutes and striking for six straight of its own to trim the UNO lead down to two once again, 28-26, in the final seven minutes of the period.
 
Nothing changed over the final minutes of the first half, as both sides traded punches. UND closed the stanza by hitting six of its final eight shots to head into the locker room trailing by just a pair, 48-46. The Hawks did a strong job of limiting the Mavs from distance in the opening half, allowing only three makes on 11 attempts while converting six of their 13 tries from deep.
 
Omaha started the second half strong offensively, hitting at a 60% clip (9-of-15) through the opening nine minutes of the frame to build a 68-59 advantage. North Dakota kept clawing away at the lead, however, as a Seales jumper and a pair of makes at the line from Stewart trimmed the lead down to four, 69-65, at the under-8 timeout.
 
After that spurt by the Hawks, the Mavs became stingy on defense by holding the green and white scoreless for just over two minutes and forcing a pair timeouts to extend the lead to nine once again, 74-65, with 5:37 to play in the contest. The trading of runs continued after the lead stretch to nine for the Mavs. UND held second-seeded Omaha without a point for 2:12, while scoring eight of the next 10 points to cut the lead down to just a single shot, 76-73, with just over two minutes to play.
 
With just over a minute on the clock, Stewart cut it down to just one, 77-76, with a spinning layup in the lane before a missed three on the other end gave the Fighting Hawks a chance at the lead; however, Stewart's shot was just off and Omaha was able to score the game's final four points to hold on for the win.
 
NOTES: UND falls to 0-9 this season against Division I opponents located on I-29 … Bench points were even at 25 … UND outshot Omaha, 50.0% to 43.9%, marking the second time this season UND has hit exactly half of its shots against Omaha … The Hawks fall to 8-3 when shooting 50% or better and 12-6 when outshooting their opponent … Aanen Moody finishes just three 3's away from tying the program's DI record for makes in a season.