@unco_mbb Road Woes Continue, Lose 92-82

Wednesday, December 17

Omaha, Neb.

7:00 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

4-5

Nebraska-Omaha

5-5

UNCO

Omaha

Photo by: Ed Navarro

12/17/2014 9:16:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The Bears cut a 21 point deficit down to just six points in the second half, but could not finish the come from behind win.

By: UNCBears.com

OMAHA, Neb. – Northern Colorado men's basketball (4-5) cut a 21 point second half deficit down to six in the final seven minutes of the game, but couldn't complete the come from behind victory, falling to Nebraska-Omaha (5-5), 92-82 on Wednesday night.

After a free throw from the Mavericks' Marcus Tyus made it a 77-56 ball game with 6:43 to go in the second half, the Bears rallied for 15 straight points to cut the lead down to six, 77-71.

An old-fashioned three point play from senior forward, Dominique Lee started the run followed by back-to-back three's from sophomore guards Drew Bender and Jordan Wilson. Lee followed that up with two more makes at the charity stripe to make it an 11 point difference.

Senior guard Tevin Svihovec drove to the rim, splitting two defenders and laying it up and in for two. The rally ended off two more shots at the line from Wilson.

From there, UNO pushed their lead back up to double-digits off an offensive board and bucket from CJ Carter with less than three minutes remaining.

The Bears again made it a six point game with 42 seconds remaining after a drive to the basket from senior forward, Tim Huskisson making it, 88-82 in favor of the Mavericks.

UNC would not get it any closer as Nebraska-Omaha went on to get the 10 point victory.

"We're just not very good defensively right now," said head coach B.J. Hill. "I'm failing this team and they're failing themselves because no one is willing to step up and call out their teammates. At some point a voice has to come from within and it can't be just one, two, or three guys. I can't always be that voice, we need multiple guys to step up and demand the team live up to the expectations they set for themselves."

Lee was once again just shy of a double-double, dropping a career-high 19 points and hauling in nine rebounds in the loss. Huskisson also added 19 points of his own, 13 of those coming in the first half. Wilson scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half, shooting 5-7 from the floor. Svihovec rounded out the scoring with 14 points.

Northern Colorado ended the night 46.8% (29-62) from the field, but shot just 35.0% (7-20) from beyond the arc.

The Bears played catch up for the entire first half. A Svihovec layup at the 17:38 mark tied the game up at, 4-4, but that is as close as UNC would come to taking the lead the entire game.

After the first media timeout the Mavericks' CJ Carter found nothing-but-net on a 22-ft jumper pushing the UNO lead to eight, 14-6 over Northern Colorado.

UNC battled back on the heels Huskisson. Coming off the bench, the senior scored 13 straight points, hitting 3-4 shots from the beyond arc. Huskisson would tally the only three-point buckets for the Bears in the half.

A Huskisson aided Northern Colorado cut their deficit down to just two, 20-18 midway through the first half.

The Bears failed to keep it close as the Mavericks went on a 10-2 run of their own to take the first double-digit lead of the game.

"What's frustrating is, when as a coach you have to make a decision to not start guys, or trick guys into showing you that they can play," said Hill. "We shouldn't have these type of issues with the maturity that we have on this team. We have to have these guys buy into the system, the same system that has been successful in the past, and buy into each other. Tim had a great night tonight, but hasn't shown up in the past and it's not just Tim, I could go down the list with guys that haven't come to play on a consistent basis."

UNO's lead continued to stretch and got as large as 15 points after back-to-back trey-balls from Devin Patterson and Tyus to make it a 44-29 ball game with 2:05 left on the scoreboard.

Sophomore guard Anthony Johnson scored the Bears final points after driving into the paint off the fast break and knocking down the 10-ft jumper.

Northern Colorado trailed, 46-32 heading into the locker room.

The Bears were outscored 24-14 by the Mavs in the final ten minutes of the first half, but still managed to shoot a respectable 44.8% (13-29) and 37.5% (3-8) from downtown.

UNC is now 0-5 in road games on the year.

"I've given this speech, and I've given this speech, and I've given this speech," Hill said. "The speech has to come from within. What I don't understand as a competitor and as someone who has played the game, is that the level these guys are at in practice is unreal and then only half of them bring that same intensity on game day. It's the inconsistencies that are hurting this team and we have to figure that out."

After nearly a month away from home, the men's basketball team returns to Bank of Colorado Arena for a two-game stand before conference play. The Bears will face Jacksonville State on Saturday, Dec. 20 at 7:00 p.m. and then host UC Davis on Monday, Dec. 22 at 7:00 p.m.