• Box Score: UNO 85, UNK 68
• Photo Showcase: UNO men's basketball, Feb. 15
• Video Below: See UNO-UNK game highlights

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It was high on history, but low on drama.

In the final scheduled men's basketball game at Sapp Fieldhouse, UNO cruised to an 85-68 victory over its shorthanded rival from the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

An announced crowd of 1,949 turned out Wednesday for what also served as UNO's Alumni Night — with many former players on hand, including all-time scoring leader Dean Thompson and longtime coach Bob Hanson.

The attendance, perhaps sentimentally, matches the year construction of the fieldhouse was finished — 1949.

After an interesting first couple of minutes, the Lopers, playing without injured leading scorers Mike Dentlinger and Quinston Reggins, couldn't keep pace.

“It was a great atmosphere, and it was great having our alumni back,” UNO coach Derrin Hansen said. “There were a lot of faces that you haven't seen in awhile. And I thanked our team for what they did for our alumni. That meant a lot to me, but it meant a lot to those guys.”

UNK hit three early 3s, two by Chris Deans, to stay within 12-11, but UNO used a 13-2 run to take a 25-13 lead and maintained control the rest of the way.

Loper co-coach Tom Kropp, whose team functioned well offensively last weekend without Dentlinger and Reggins, had hoped to establish freshman Ethan Brozek — who had originally signed with UNO — early in the game.

But UNO center John Karhoff was up to the challenge.

“UNO played really well,” Kropp said. “John was very dominant on both offense and defense, and that got them going. Then Alex Welhouse put on a tremendous shooting display, and on top of that, you've got ol' Mitch Albers, one of the best players around.”

UNK shot just 30.3 percent from the field and had nine turnovers in falling behind 49-33 at halftime. Albers (11), Karhoff (10) and CJ Carter (10) all scored in double figures in the first half.

Then Welhouse, en route to a career-high 24 points, scored 13 points in the first 3½ minutes of the second half as UNO turned its 16-point halftime lead into a 64-40 advantage.

“I've got to give all the credit to my teammates. CJ and Caleb (Steffensmeier) were hitting me when I was open on that little hot streak I was on,” said Welhouse, who hit 6 of 9 from behind the arc, including all three of his tries in the flurry to open the second half.

Albers, playing the final home game of his career, scored 19 points to put his career point total at 1,769 — 48 away from breaking Thompson's school record total of 1,816. The Mavs have two games left in the season for the Papillion-La Vista graduate to make a run at Thompson.

“Last year, they smacked us pretty good at their place,” said Albers, referring to an early-season 86-74 loss that contributed to UNO missing out on the Division II tournament. “We really wanted to get this one for us, and for all the alumni who were back. And I had a bunch of family here — some of these Omaha guys did, too.”

Welhouse, Karhoff, Steffensmeier and Carter — whose 14 points were mostly of the spectacular variety — will be among those moving their game to the Ralston Sports and Event Center next season.

Jon Henderson scored 15 points and three others added 11 for the Lopers (13-10), who shot 32.3 percent for the game.

UNO (11-16) had assists on 22 of its 31 field goals and had just six turnovers. Steffensmeier, UNO's point guard, had nine points, seven assists, four steals and no turnovers.

“The best thing about tonight was that we had a little bit of fight, which we haven't had every night this year,” Hansen said. “And we really found (open) people.”

Among the career leaders the Mavs honored during timeouts were Thompson, his brother Tommy (field-goal percentage leader), Hanson (wins), John Skokan (rebounds and blocked shots), Zac Robinson (3-pointers), Michael Jenkins (free throws), Steve Fleming (free-throw percentage), Tola Dada (conference MVP) and the 2007-08 team that won a school-record 25 games. All former players in attendance were honored at halftime.

UNO felt bad about UNK's injuries but didn't apologize for picking up a win in what has been a difficult first season of transition to Division I.

“We've been decent down the stretch in some close games, but not great,” Hansen said. “So honestly, I didn't mind not having a close one, personally. The building probably deserved a close one, but I wasn't crazy about one.”

Contact the writer:

402-444-1027, rob.white@owh.com

twitter.com/RWhiteOWH

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• Video: See UNO-UNK game highlights:

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