SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - A turbo charged Omaha squad looked the part of a better seed as the No. 3 Mavericks rolled past No. 7 IUPUI in the second semifinal of The Summit League Tournament on Monday night (Mar. 6), blazing past the Jaguars 90-62. Mitch Hahn led Omaha with 21 points and 10 rebounds off the bench and Tra-Deon Hollins added 19 points for the victors. 

Senior Darell Combs was the lone IUPUI player in double-digits with 22 points and Kellon Thomas finished with nine in his final collegiate game. 

Omaha (18-13) shot 51 percent and outrebounded the Jaguars 50-34 while IUPUI knocked down just 31 percent for the game. 

"I thought Omaha came out and did a good job with their defensive pressure and they did a good job moving the ball," IUPUI Head Coach Jason Gardner said. "You always want to finish better than what it is, but I couldn't ask those (seniors) for a better job.

"I thought we got some good looks and they just didn't fall. Part of it had to do with Omaha's pressure, but we missed some looks too. We allowed missed shots to kind of determine outcome defensively."

Despite having had an extra day off for rest and preparation, it was the Jaguars who looked heavy legged in the beginning. D.J. McCall had an early highlight with a steal and a putback dunk in transition, but after IUPUI built a quick 5-4 lead, it was all Mavs. 

Tre'Shawn Thurman scored seven straight points to begin a 12-2 run that pushed Omaha's lead to 16-7 with 12:42 left before halftime. IUPUI stopped the run with a Ron Patterson dunk and Henderson pull-up jumper, but Omaha closed the half by outscoring the Jags 22-4 over the final nine minutes, including the last 13 before the break. Thurman punctuated the Omaha run with a three-point play with 0.9 seconds left. 

IUPUI was 0-for-11 from deep in the first half and 2-of-7 from the foul line while Omaha's Thurman had a double-double before the break with 12 points and 10 boards. 

IUPUI (14-18) showed some life early in the second half, beginning with Combs hitting a three from the top of the key while drawing a foul. His second trey of the second half cut the Omaha lead back to 18 with 17:16 to play, but the Mavs countered with a 10-0 run to end any and all suspense. 

Thurman finished with 15 points and 12 boards for Omaha. 

Matt O'Leary closed with seven points and four rebounds in his final game and both Aaron Brennan and T.J. Henderson had six points apiece. Both Josh James and Grant Sinn made a brief cameo in the closing minutes to round out their collegiate careers. 

"This group of seniors was kind of my first recruiting class and they've done a good job in helping us build back the program and get to this level," Gardner said. "We won more games this year than we did last year, which is kind of what you look for going forward."

Gardner's squad improved by a win from a year ago and reached the tournament semifinals for the first time since 2011. Combs finished his IUPUI career ranked 22nd on the program's all-time scoring list while Thomas became the third player in school history to hit 90 percent or better from the free throw line in a single-season. 

The Jaguars are expected to return a nucleus of Patterson (9.3 ppg), Brennan (8.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg), Evan Hall (7.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg), Henderson (5.9 ppg) and McCall (4.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg) next season. IUPUI will also be bolstered by Toledo-transfer Nick Rogers, who sat out this season due to NCAA Division I transfer rules.