OMAHA, Neb. – The North Dakota men's basketball team suffered its first conference loss of the season, falling to Omaha by a score of 90-79 on Thursday night from Baxter Arena. UND drops to 8-11 and 1-2 in Summit League play, while Omaha improves to 8-10 and 1-2 in conference play.

It was a game that UND just could not quite get over the hump, leading for just 33 seconds of the contest. North Dakota trailed by as many as 17 in the second half and got the lead down to as little as five, but could not get within one-possession.

The Hawks had four players in double figures, led by Eli King who totaled 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. It was his fourth career 20-point performance.

Greyson Uelmen had 19 points on 5-of-9 shooting, scoring the first seven Hawks points and scoring 13 in the first 10:43 of the contest. Garrett Anderson contributed 15 points and George Natsvlishvili had 10 points and six rebounds.

North Dakota got 15 more shot attempts up than the Mavs, but shot 24-of-60 (40.0%) compared to 27-for-45 (60.0%) from Omaha. The Mavs shot an absurd 18-of-23 from the field in the first half.
The game featured 47 fouls and 65 free throws. North Dakota shot 21-of-30 from the stripe, while Omaha went 28-for-35.

Omaha jumped out to a 16-11 lead, behind four three pointers and 14 points from Tony Osburn, who had a game-high 27 points. The score was knotted at 22-22 with 9:17 to play, following an Uelmen three-pointer.

The Mavs opened up a little gap, going on a 17-5 run over the next 6:08 to claim a 39-27 advantage with 3:07 to play. North Dakota shot 8-of-17 from three in the first half, but found itself down 48-39 due to Omaha shooting 78.2% from the field in the first 20 minutes (18-of-23).

In the second half, UND fell behind by 17, trailing 59-42 with 14:02 to play. UND cut that lead to just nine with an 8-0 run over the next 87 seconds, with two three pointers from Marley Curtis and a floater from Anthony Smith lll to make it 59-50.

UND fell behind by 15, down 71-56 with 8:25 remaining. Following two Anderson free throws to make it 71-58, King scored and got fouled to make it 71-60. He missed the free-throw, which was rebounded by Reggie Thomas. The ball then found its way back to King, where he converted another layup and the foul. This time he completed the three-point play, capitalizing on a five-point possession, to pull UND within 71-63 at the 7:22 mark.

UND stayed on the Mavs back, as Uelmen scored on a straight-line drive basket, to get UND within 74-69 at the 5:11 point.

With a chance to get the game within one-possession, Anderson came up with a steal on the defensive end and pushed the ball in transition, getting the foul call. The senior missed both free throws, while Omaha proceeded to score on the next possession, to make it 76-69 with 3:28.

Following the final media timeout, Christian Rodriguez of Omaha threw in a dunk off an offensive rebound to make it 78-69. NoDak was able to get it back to a two-possession game, trailing 79-73 with 1:58 to play and Omaha had the ball.

While playing out the defensive possession, Osburn on the Mavs got Uelmen in the air and drew the foul from behind the arc, giving him three free throws. He went 2-of-3 from the line, to make it 81-73.

North Dakota was unable to get the game under two possessions the rest of the way, falling 90-79.

The Fighting Hawks will be back in action on Saturday night at 7 p.m. against Kansas City on the road. Coverage can be found on Summit League Network and heard on 100.3 The Cat.

Postgame Notes

• UND is now 58-49 all-time against Omaha
• King had his fourth career 20-point performance
• The Hawks hit 10 or more three pointers for the fifth time this season
• NoDak shot 15 more field goal attempts than Omaha
• North Dakota forced 13 turnovers compared to seven of its own
• UND had eight steals, while Omaha had three
• The game featured three lead changes and five ties
• Omaha won the paint battle 36-28
• NoDak had 13 second chance points, while the Mavs had six

How It Happened
First Half
15:03 Omaha 10, UND 7
11:50 Omaha 16, UND 16
7:32 Omaha 26, UND 23
3:40 Omaha 37, UND 27
Halftime: Omaha 47, UND 38
 
Second Half
15:51 Omaha 53, UND 40
11:26 Omaha 61, UND 52
7:29 Omaha 71, UND 60
3:10 Omaha 76, UND 69
Final: Omaha 90, UND 79
For more information on North Dakota men's basketball, visit FightingHawks.com or follow on social media @UNDmbasketball.
-- UND --