Shields Shines in Huskers? 80-67 Win

Lincoln – Behind a career-high 35 points from Shavon Shields, Nebraska roared back from a 16-point first-half deficit to defeat Omaha, 80-67, in front a sellout crowd of 15,889 at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Shields, a junior from Olathe, Kan., scored 13 of his 31 points in a 23-2 run, as the Huskers bounced back from a four-point overtime loss at Rhode Island on Saturday. Shields finished with 35 points on 12-of-16 shooting, including a career-high four 3-pointers, and added eight rebounds in matching the Pinnacle Bank Arena scoring record set by Terran Petteway last January.

The Huskers, who improved to 3-1 on the season, withstood Omaha’s best shot early. The Mavericks, who were coming off a win at Marquette on Saturday, connected on eight of their first nine shots from the field and used a 14-1 spurt to take a 23-7 lead just five minutes into the contest.

From there, Nebraska took over on both ends of the court, holding UNO without a field goal for 6:36 to quickly get back into the contest.  

Petteway, who finished with 20 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, got the run started with a 3-pointer before Shields scored six straight points as part of a 16-0 surge to knot the score at 23 with 9:02 left in the half.  Moments later, Shields’ 3-pointer gave the Huskers its first lead of the evening, as the Huskers ran off seven straight points to take a 30-25 lead on Petteway’s dunk with 6:23 left in the half.

The Huskers eventually pushed the lead to 40-29 before taking an eight point lead into the locker room, at 42-34.

Omaha (2-2) continued to battle, cutting the lead to 47-43 on a CJ Carter basket with 13:14 left, but Shields took over again, scoring five straight points to push the margin to 52-43. The Mavericks made one last run, pulling to within 56-50 with 9:42 left after a Tim Smallwood 3-pointer before the Huskers put the visitors away with an 11-2 surge to make it 67-53 after a Shields jumper with 6:44 left.

Tai Webster joined Shields and Petteway in double figures with 10 point and five assists, as the Huskers shot 53 percent from the floor.

Devin Patterson led UNO with 20 points to pace three Mavericks in double figures.

The Huskers return home on Friday evening to host Tennessee-Martin. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and a limited number of 100 Level tickets are available by calling 800-8-BIGRED or visiting Huskers.com