The NOC Mavs traveled to Altus, OK to take on Region 2 member Western Oklahoma on Tuesday night.  The Mavs prevailed with a conference opening win 87-79.

Things did not start off well for the Mavs, as they found themselves down 8 points in the early going.  After a NOC timeout, the Mavs slowly chipped away at the Western lead.  With things going back and forth until the 7:00 minute mark, the Mavs made their move and found a way to lead at half 45-35.

The second consisted of Western making runs at the Mavericks, cutting it to two and four points on several occasions, but NOC found a way to answer with a dunk, put back or big three each time Western got it close.

"We found a way to win a conference road game at a tough place to play," said NOC men's basketball coach Donnie Jackson. "Western does a good job of keeping you off balance and we found a way to score in different ways against their zone defense and full court pressure."

NOC prevailed in the end 87-79 to improve to 8-3 overall and 1-0 in conference play.

Amir Allen led the Mavs with 20 points and 11 rebounds.  Trevion Lamar chipped in 19 points and led the team with 5 assists.  Anselm Uzuegbunem also provided a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, despite battling foul trouble on the evening.

Darron Johnson led Western in scoring with 34 points, respectively.

The Mavs will play host to Region 2 rival NEO on Thursday, November 30th at 7:30 pm.  NEO just beat perrenial power Connors State 77-70 to open up conference play.

"We will need to bring energy from the start," said Jackson. "NEO runs a unique zone and are tough to score against.  They have a variety of offensive players that can all do different things.  They will be in the running for the Region title and we will have to find a way to protect our home court."