Mavericks Marlon Ruffin lifts Omaha to a Thanksgiving win

Photo Courtesy Omaha Athletics

By Matt Kirkle, Contributor

(OMAHA, Neb.)—Marlon Ruffin, reigning Summit League Sixth-Man of the Year, led the Omaha Mavericks in scoring off the bench for the second straight contest on Thursday morning.

Ruffin topped it off by making two free throws with 1.2 seconds left to lift Omaha past Middle Tennessee in the Gulf Coast Showcase.

Middle Tennessee kicked off their season against the Mavs, and they used the 80-degree Estero, FL weather to heat up early on. Up until the 10:52 mark of the first half, the Blue Raiders shot 62% from the floor, and 50% from deep. On top of their efficient numbers, everyone was getting in on the action offensively. Seven Blue Raiders scored in the first 9:08, and their momentum pushed them out to a 19-12 lead.

Then the scoring stopped—completely.

Middle Tennessee did not score for the remainder of the half, going 0-for-18 from the floor with six misses from behind the arc. With Thanksgiving on their minds, Omaha’s hunger seized the opportunity. The Mavericks finished the half on a 20-0 run, with Ruffin, Matt Pile and Wanjang Tut scoring 13 of the 20. Omaha went into the halftime intermission leading 32-19, led by Pile with 10 points and five rebounds.

Nobody expected the Blue Raiders to remain blue for too long, and they didn’t. Coming out of the break, the shots began to fall again; and for the Mavs, things began to take a turn for the worst. After trailing by 15 in the early stages of the second half, Middle Tennessee hit three of their first four 3’s (after making just two in the first half) to cut their deficit to just six points.

Omaha responded with a quick five points, only to be rebutted with a 16-4 Blue Raider run giving Middle Tennessee a 44-43 lead. The Blue Raiders outscored Omaha 25-11 in the opening 10:26 of the second half, and Omaha was just 38% from the floor with no shots from behind the arc, and tagged along seven turnovers during that span.

After four lead changes over the next 4:00, Middle Tennessee jumped out to a 55-50 with 5:10 left. Omaha is accustom to coming from behind to win over the last two seasons, and Pile is a centric piece to that puzzle the entire time. He displayed that by rattling off six straight points to cut the Maverick deficit to 57-56. After a DeAndre Dishman bucket with 2:07 left, Middle Tennessee jumped out to a three point lead.

Following a series of missed baskets from both sides capped off by a missed three-point attempt from Ruffin with 21 seconds left, Jordan Davis went to the line to potentially push it out to a two possession lead for the Blue Raiders. When Davis went to the stripe with 19 seconds left, ESPN projected that Middle Tennessee’s win probability was 84.5%. That quickly changed.

Davis missed both free throws, and then proceeded to foul Ruffin on the other end resulting in two Maverick points from the stripe. Omaha then forced a Donovan Sims turnover with three seconds left with a trap at half court. On the ensuing play, Ruffin was fouled by Jo’Vontae Millner-Criss with one second on the clock, as he thought Ruffin was going to attempt a 3-pointer.

 Ruffin, a 73% free-throw shooter since arriving in Omaha, drained both free throws to give Omaha the points needed to close out the Blue Raiders. Pile secured the Middle Tennessee heave attempt, and Omaha secured its first victory of the 2020-21 campaign, 60-59.

Ruffin led the way with 18 points, and Pile added 16 points and 9 rebounds. Tut was the other scorer for Omaha in double-figures with 10, and he also secured 9 rebounds. Sims finished with 14 for the Blue Raiders. Ruffin is averaging 19 points per game in the first two contests off of the bench, and Pile is averaging 11 points and 11.5 rebounds a game. The Mavericks take on Abilene Christian on Saturday at 10 a.m. for their final game in the Gulf Coast Showcase.