Omaha beats Arkansas State 77-74 (Dec 13, 2017)

By AP
Published

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) Zach Jackson scored 22 points, JT Gibson added a career-high 17, and Omaha held off Arkansas State to win its second game of the season, 77-74 on Wednesday night and snap a three-game skid.

ASU rallied from a 17-point deficit and Deven Simms' layup tied it at 58 after a 12-0 run. The Red Wolves twice pulled within one point before taking a 70-69 lead on Salif Boudie's layup.

KJ Robinson's made two free throws for a 71-70 Omaha lead, Jackson added a layup after Arkansas State missed a free throw and the Mavericks were up 73-70 with 1:21 left to play. ASU rallied to take a 74-73 lead on a jumper by layup by Ty Cockfield and Grantham Gillard's steal and layup, but Matt Pile's layup with 27 seconds left put Omaha up 75-74.

Daniel Norl's two free throws made it a three-point game with eight seconds left. Arkansas State called a timeout and Cockfield missed a 3 before time expired.

Norl scored 15 points for the Mavericks (2-10).

Cockfield scored 23 points for Arkansas State (3-7), which has lost five of its last six. Simms scored 12 and Thomas Bruce 10.