UNT Drops 5th Straight
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DENTON, Texas – After fighting back from an 11-point second-half deficit, North Texas succumbed to a late 11-2 run and suffered its fifth-straight loss of the season, a 70-59 defeat against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Thursday night at the Super Pit.
The Mean Green trailed 51-40 with 6:52 to play, but put on a frantic rally over a two-minute span that saw them even the score at 51-51 on a Jordan Williams three-pointer with 4:33 to play. WKU, however, responded immediately with an 11-2 scoring run to seize command.
“Late, we did not do a good job stopping them,” North Texas coach Tony Benford said. “A couple of their shooters got away from us, and our offense went stagnant and we had some crucial turnovers.”
North Texas, which slipped to 3-11 in Sun Belt play (8-17 overall), never got closer than six points the rest of the way.
As has often been the case in the second half of the season, North Texas production came from a fraction of its roster, while its opponent got scoring throughout its lineup. Four players accounted for all but one of the Mean Green’s points. Nine of the Hilltoppers (7-6, 13-11) scored, including Jamal Crook, who had 14 points in his second game back from injury. During his absence, WKU lost nine of 13.
The North Texas offense was sporadic most of the night. The Mean Green shot just
33.9 percent for the game and 30.6 percent in the second half. Their offense came from Alzee Williams with 17 points in 38 minutes of play, Jordan Williams with 15 in 37 minutes, Tony Mitchell with 14 and Roger Franklin with 12. Mitchell added 13 rebounds for his 17th career double-double.
“We’ve got a small margin for error,” Benford said. “P.J. (point guard P.J. Hardwick) is not a scoring threat, and when Tony is out of there its three-on-five.”
Mitchell exploded out of the blocks to stake North Texas to an 8-0 lead. His steal of WKU’s first possession led to a violent dunk, which he followed with a three-point field goal, one of two free throws, and a rebound leading to a fast-break layup by Alzee Williams.
But with 9:29 to play in the half, Mitchell drew his second foul and spent the rest of the half on the bench. With the Mean Green up 19-13, North Texas then lost Niko Stojiljkovic when he was shaken up on a drive to the basket – on which he was called for a charge.
“It really hurt us in the first half when Tony went out,” Benford said. “He had a rhythm going, but he never got back in the groove.”
A Jordan Williams dunk made it 21-13, but then the Hilltoppers took control. With 3:29 to play in the half, they had shaved the gap to one at 22-21. They took their first lead at 23-22 and ended the half with a buzzer-beating layup for a 27-24 advantage. North Texas scored just two points in the final four and a half minutes of the opening period.
WKU opened a 32-24 lead early in the second half and built the gap to nine, then kicked it up to 51-40 before North Texas’ final comeback.
North Texas will be back at the Super Pit Saturday night against Florida International. Game time is 7 p.m.
