North Texas Dominates Incarnate Word

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DENTON, Texas – In one of its most complete performances of the season, the North Texas men dominated previously-undefeated Incarnate Word Tuesday night at the Super Pit, roaring to an 84-67 victory and its first win streak of the year.

Coming off a come-from-behind, double-overtime win over Portland three days ago, the Mean Green opened Tuesday’s game with an 8-0 run, followed that with 15-0 and 10-2 streaks, and got points from all 10 players to open a 27-point lead – all before halftime.

“We had some guys do some really good things tonight,” North Texas coach Tony Benford said.

North Texas threw a balanced, aggressive attack at the Cardinals, generating points from all 10 Mean Green players in the first half. Jordan Williams led the way with a season-high 19 points, and Brandon Walton (16 points), Alzee Williams (14) and Vertrail Vaughns (11) also finished in double figures.

While the North Texas offense was pouring in points from all over the floor and shooting 61 percent during the opening onslaught, the Mean Green defense was dismantling the Cardinals offense. Led by Keith Coleman’s career-high four blocks, North Texas rejected a season-high eight shots, including five in the opening half when the Mean Green held the Cardinals’ 7-0 center, Ian Markolf, to just two points and three rebounds. By the end of the night, Markolf had fouled out with just six points and his UCI teammates fared no better, shooting 32 percent from

the floor and held 19 points below their season scoring average.

“They’re a really good shooting team,” Benford said. “We did a good job running them off the three-point line, and then finishing those possessions with rebounds.”