OMAHA, Neb. _ Rebounding, specifically offensive rebounding, was the difference maker in Nebraska-Omaha's 100-75 victory over the University of Central Arkansas Bears at Ralston Arena.

    The Mavericks (1-0) dominated the glass with 51 rebounds, including a whopping 26 on the offensive end, to hand the Bears their second loss on their opening three-game road trip. UCA had only 25 rebounds total, and just seven on the offensive end. Omaha won the battle of second-chance points 30-6. The Mavericks, in their season opener, took a 47-31 lead to the locker room at halftime, with a rebound differential of 31-12.
    
    "They are big and physical and we knew that coming in,' said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. "That was a problem the other night against Creighton as well. UNO has a big, strong front line, physical guys that are a handful. Against our lightweight guys right now that need a little bit more strength, that can happen. But the thing that bothered me was a lack of trying to box out in the first half.

    "A good number of times, we just had guys standing around outside the three-point line. Every timeout was the same thing, I should have just played a recording. Box out, pursue the ball.' 

    The Bears fell behind early with seven turnovers in the first five minutes of the game as the Mavericks pushed out to an 18-3 lead. But UCA rallied with an 11-0 run, fueled by five consecutive points from freshman guard Jordan Howard, to cut the deficit to 27-23 midway through the first half.

    The Mavericks got back to work on the boards and extended their lead to a high of 17 points at 44-27 on a pair of free throws by Devin Patterson with 2:44 to play. UCA got two free throws from Howard and a driving jumper from Mathieu Kamba to close the gap to 44-31 with 1:22 left, but Omaha's Randy Reed made one final three pointer to give the Mavs their 47-31 halftime lead.

    UCA actually outshot Omaha in the first half (40.7 percent to 34.9) but the Mavs made 12 free throws and were 5 of 10 from three-point range. UCA, which was called for 14 first-half fouls, had 14 turnovers and was 5 of 6 from three-point range in the opening 20 minutes.



    "That was kind of our theme against Creighton, too,' said Pennell. "We had nine players that were eligible to play today, with one injured, and six of them were freshmen. But we have to learn to get off to a good start. We were very careless with the ball. The speed of the game for our young guys right now is a little bit overwhelming. Hopefully four or five games into it, we'll figure that part out.

    "And we knew coming in that that experience was going to be one of their strengths. That, and they are a really good rebounding team. They were just a little bit too much for us tonight. When you are overhauling a program like we are, there are going to be some growing pains and some things that can hurt from time to time. We may take some whippings.

    "But we're going to get there. I think we have the right pieces, we just have to continue with the process.'

    UCA finished with five players scoring in double figures, with freshman Kamba getting 18 and making 8 of 12 at the free-throw line. Howard scored 14 points and had seven assists, while freshman Albert Christensson had 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Freshman Thatch Unruh made 3 of 5 from three-point range and scored 11 points as the Bears connected on 9 of 21 threes (42.9 percent). Junior center Jake Zuilhof had 10 points, three rebounds and three blocked shots for the Bears.

    Guards Patterson and C.J. Carter scored 22 points each for the Mavericks, while 6-foot-8, 240-pound senior center Mike Rostanpour had 13 points and 14 rebounds. Junior Jake White (6-8, 235) added 11 rebounds as UNO won that battle 51-25. UCA finished with 20 turnovers but only had six in the second half.

    The Bears continue their road swing with a game against No. 21 Nebraska at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Lincoln.