Austin Ortega Misses Game Due to Allergic Reaction from Cookie

During the holiday season, it's normal for people to partake in a little extra-curricular snacking. While it means little more than a few extra pounds for most us, it had disastrous consequences for Nebraska Omaha on Saturday night.

Junior forward Austin Ortega ate an oatmeal raisin cookie this afternoon during lunch at the team hotel, not realizing that said cookie contained a walnut. Ortega suffers from a nut allergy, and the cookie caused him to puff up immediately.

Ortega loaded up on Benadryl in an effort to reduce some puffiness, and was scheduled to be in the line-up for the Mavericks tonight. But after a very sluggish warm-up, Ortega was scratched in favor of 13th forward Avery Peterson for tonight's game.