ESTERO, Fla. — The Omaha mens basketball team dropped its final game of the #BeachBubble at the Gulf Coast Showcase Saturday morning, falling 70-58 to Abilene Christian at Hertz Arena. The Mavericks are now 1-2 on the season, while ACU improves to 3-0.
Leaders for Omaha
Zach Thornhill put together his best performance of the week, finishing with a team-leading 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting.
Marlon Ruffin extended his double-figure scoring streak to three games, coming off the bench for 11 points with a perfect 7-of-7 effort at the line, four rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Ayo Akinwole added eight points, five assists, three rebounds and three steals, and Matt Pile had seven points and six boards. Devin Evans matched Pile on the glass with another six rebounds.
Leaders for Abilene Christian
Kolton Kohl led the Wildcats with 15 points and six rebounds. Clay Gayman (14), Joe Pleasant (11) and Immanuel Allen (10) also scored in double figures.
Team Stats
ACU shot 45% (26-of-58) to Omahas 44% (23-of-52) and held a 32-30 advantage on the boards. The Mavericks committed 23 turnovers for the day.
Inside the First Half
A slow start saw Omaha fall behind by 11, as ACU used a series of early runs and six Maverick turnovers to lead 19-8 less than nine minutes in. After going five minutes without a basket up to the nine-minute mark, the Mavericks flipped the script and rattled off a two-minute, 10-0 run bookended by Thornhill to cut it to 19-18.
A corner three by Jadin Booth put Omaha in the lead by one, and a Wanjang Tut jumper extended it to 27-24. Omaha and ACU sat tied at 28-28 by the break, boosted by nine points from Thornhill on 4-of-4 shooting in the first half.
Inside the Second Half
Back-to-back scores by Akinwole pushed the Mavericks to a 36-32 edge by the first media timeout.
But a 15-1 ACU run coupled with five Omaha miscues allowed the Wildcats to go ahead 47-37. The Mavericks managed to cut it to 47-41 on a steal-and-score by LaMel Robinson, then brought it to six twice more on buckets from Darrius Hughes and Tut. But another late spurt from ACU — this time 8-0 — put it out of reach as the Wildcats maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the way.
Up Next
Omaha visits No. 11 Creighton on Tuesday, Dec. 1, with tipoff set for 4 p.m. at CHI Health Center Omaha.
