Edmond, OK – Kam Warrens scored a career-high 16 points for the University of Mary and Gertautas Urbonavicius added 15 in his Marauders debut in an 80-70 loss to Northeastern (OK) State University. The neutral site game in the first day of the Central Region Classic was the 2021-22 season opener for UMary.
 
Both Warrens and Urbonavicius finished 6-of-12 from the floor with a trey apiece. The difference was Warrens was 3-for-3 at the line and Urbonavicius went 2-for-2. Warrens added a team-high four steals while Urbonavicius, a transfer from the University of North Dakota, led UMary with eight rebounds. He also had two assists and two steals.
 
UMary held an edge in total rebounds (33-30) and in offensive boards (12-4) and outscored Northeastern State 38-28 in the paint and 19-8 on fastbreaks. But the Marauders were unable to keep pace with the hot shooting of the Riverhawks. Northeastern State connected on 56% of its shots in the game (29-of-52), including an 11-for-23 effort behind the arc. Despite hitting on 51.4% of its second half field goal attempts, UMary shot just 43.8% for the game (28-of-64) and was 5-of-18 on treys.
 
Kai Huntsberry scored four early points for the Marauders and UMary jumped out to an 11-5 lead. The Riverhawks then started to sink shots and the complexion changed with Northeastern going into half leading 33-25. Eventually the Riverhawks lead grew to 20.
 
The Marauders made a 20-7 run to close within 73-66 on a Deven Franks fastbreak layup with 67 seconds left but it was as close as UMary would get.
 
Hunstberry and Jacob Jackson both scored eight points for the Marauders in their UMary debuts. Huntsberry  also had a team-best five assists. Franks hit all three of his shots and finished with seven points. Matthew Johnson added six and two assists.
 
Christian Cook led the Riverhawks with 24 points and Emeka Obukwelu had 23.
 
The Marauders wrap up the Central Region Classic at 7:30 pm Saturday, Nov., against host University of Central Oklahoma.
 
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