North Texas Beats Marshall

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HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – North Texas used stifling defense and complete games from Jordan Williams and Chris Jones to pick up its first Conference USA win, 80-65, at Marshall on Thursday night.

The Mean Green (10-7, 1-2 C-USA) mixed its defense all night, which turned Marshall over 15 times, including eight in the first half, and held the Thundering Herd (6-12, 0-3 C-USA) to 30.8 percent from the floor.

Jones was the catalyst with nine points and eight assist, many of which went to Williams, who finished with a team-high 20 points and 10 rebounds. Colin Voss just missed his fourth double-double with 16 points and nine boards.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the way we played tonight, “said North Texas head coach Tony Benford. “Our defense really helped create our offense tonight, and when Chris Jones is playing like that we’re a pretty unstoppable team. We really feed off his positive energy.”

North Texas led by as much as 18 midway through the first half, and held Marshall at bay when they cut the NT lead to eight points with 4:02 remaining. Williams had six points in the final four minutes to help close the win.

Blanketing perimeter zone defense fueled a 14-2 first half North Texas run that broke the game open. Jones had three of NT’s eight first-half steals, and turned them into five assists by halftime.

The Mean Green shot 53.3 percent from the floor in the first half and raced to a 39-27 lead at the break. NT finished with exactly 50 percent shooting overall on the night.

North Texas takes the five-hour drive to Charlotte, N.C. to take on 49ers on Saturday at 6 p.m. Central. The game will once again be broadcast on Time Warner Cable’s SportsChannel.