The UNO men pulled out an 83-75 thriller over North Dakota in the Mavericks' first ESPN Ramada Worldwide BracketBusters appearance Saturday afternoon at Ralston Arena.

Omaha led by as much as 12 when it took a 25-13 advantage in the first half. North Dakota knocked it down to a single-digit margin, tied it at 30-30 and went up 33-30 on Aaron Anderson's second and third threes of the game.

In the final three minutes of the half, the teams traded leads three times and Doug Archer's jumper gave UND a four-point lead, but a pair of John Karhoff free throws and a three-pointer by Alex Welhouse knotted the score 41-41 at halftime.

The second half saw 17 lead changes with UND's last lead coming at 73-70 with 4:32 left. The momentum then shifted to Omaha as Justin Simmons hit a three to tie it at 73-73. Back-to-back layups from Karhoff pushed it to 77-73 before UND got back to within two on a pair of Jamal Webb foul shots.

A three-pointer by Welhouse gave UNO an 80-75 lead. North Dakota missed its last six shot attempts while Alex Phillips, Welhouse and Caleb Steffensmeier each hit a free throw, giving Omaha the 83-75 win.

Karhoff had the third double-double of his career with 17 points and 10 rebounds as well as three assists and a career-best three blocks. Simmons finished with a team-high 20 points for his 10th 20-plus point performance of the year. Simmons added three rebounds with a pair of assists and finished 3-for-4 from beyond the arc.

The Fighting Sioux were paced by 21 points from Troy Huff and 19 points from Anderson, who finished 4-for-5 from long range.

The Mavericks improved to 11-18 (6-8 Summit League) while UND dropped to 12-15 (9-8 Big Sky).