UNT Defeats Southeast Louisiana
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DENTON, Texas – In one of the lowest-scoring games in Super Pit history, the North Texas men’s basketball team came out on top, 45-40, against Southeastern Louisiana on Sunday afternoon.
The Mean Green improves to 5-6 overall, while SE Louisiana falls to 1-7. North Texas is now 5-1 all-time against the Lions. North Texas has won its last two games, both at home.
Both teams had a tough shooting night, but North Texas was able to stay ahead with its defensive play. The Mean Green shot a season-low 29 percent and was held scoreless from 3-point range. The last time North Texas scored fewer than 50 points and still pulled out a victory was a 37-36 win against Air Force in 1963.
The Mean Green defense held the Lions to 40 points, only the sixth time in the last 10 years that North Texas has held an opponent to 50 points or less. North Texas held Grambling to 40 points last year.
North Texas capitalized on 11 steals and 19 forced turnovers. The Mean Green scored 16 points off visitor miscues. For the second straight game, North Texas stayed under 10 turnovers. The Mean Green turned over the ball eight times.
Roger Franklin led the team with 12 points, all scored in the first half. He scored all but seven of NT’s first half points. He cooled off in the second half, but Alzee Williams and Jordan Williams took over with nine and eight points in the second stanza.
Holding just a one-point lead at the half, North Texas opened the second stanza on a 7-2 run and stayed ahead for the rest of the game. Alzee Williams scored six of those seven points to give North Texas a seven-point lead, 27-20, at 14:10. The Lions managed only two field goals in the opening eight minutes.
After going 0-for-6 from 3-point range in the first half, SE Louisiana was
able to stay in the game against North Texas with three 3-pointers in the second half. A 3-pointer by Antonnio Benton and a jumper by Onochie Ochie cut the Mean Green to one point, 29-28. Another 3-pointer by Brandon Fortenberry kept the Lions in the game, 36-24.
After the Lions cut the lead to one-point, 36-35, at 5:27, North Texas rattled off eight straight points to take its largest lead of the game, 44-35, at 2:19. The run sealed the win for the Mean Green.
North Texas struggled offensively in the first half, making only nine field goals. The 19 points scored was a season low.
Franklin scored 10 of NT’s first 15 points. His dunk at 15:14 gave North Texas a 15-14 advantage. North Texas scored the last four points of the half to enter intermission ahead, 19-16. The Mean Green led for most of the first half, leading by as many as four points twice.
Alzee Williams joined Franklin in double-figures with 11 points. Tony Mitchell was two points shy of a double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds. With his three blocks, Mitchell moved into a tie with Quincy Williams for the second-most career blocks in school history.
The Lions held the edge in rebounds, 51-42.
North Texas returns to action on Thursday, Dec. 20 when it faces Lehigh in the Super Pit at 7 p.m.
