North Texas Loses To BYU
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In a battle of two of the nation’s top high-octane offenses, it was Brigham Young that had the horses to out-run the North Texas basketball team, 97-67, on Tuesday at the Marriott Center.
Tyler Haws had 23 points and Matt Carlino nearly posted a triple double for a BYU squad that owned a 58-30 edge in points in the paint thanks to a healthy transition game that pushed the tempo all night. BYU tallied a 26 fast break points, while holding NT to two.
The Mean Green (5-4) countered with 11 points from Maurice Aniefiok, and held a lead with eight minutes left in the first half, but that’s when BYU (7-2) took over.
“We faced a terrific opponent tonight,” said North Texas head coach Tony Benford. “Clearly we’ve got a long way to go, but I give BYU all the credit for tonight’s game. They were as advertised in transition and on the boards, and we didn’t attack their zone well at all.”
The rebounding battle was going to be a key for the Mean Green, and the Cougars used a trio of double-digit rebounders to out-board NT, 60-38.
Led by the stout shooting game of Vertrail Vaughns, North Texas raced out of the gate to open the game. The senior hit a 3-pointer from the right wing, and scooped in a runner off the glass to put NT on top 5-0. Vaughns finished with nine points, as did Chris Jones and T.J. Taylor.
A Jordan Williams jumper from the free throw stripe put the Mean Green up, 27-25, with 8:20 on the first half clock, but that’s when Haws and the BYU transition game got moving.
