North Texas Tops Jackson State
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DENTON, Texas – North Texas outscored Jackson State 31-9 in the final 12 minutes of play to finally shake off the stubborn Tigers, 83-65, Saturday night at the Super Pit.
The Mean Green (4-6) snapped a four-game losing streak behind double-figure scoring from five players, including Tony Mitchell’s 15th career double-double. North Texas also enjoyed a 24-8 rebounding edge in the second half.
“We showed a lot of character in the second half,” North Texas coach Tony Benford said. “We talked about gang rebounding. When an opponent takes a lot of long shots there’s going to be a lot of long rebounds. We got the ball inside to Tony more.”
Mitchell had 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Alzee Williams (14 points), Roger Franklin (13), and Chris Jones and Jordan Williams (11 each) led the balanced North Texas offense.
Jackson State (0-5) hung tenaciously with the Mean Green through 30 minutes, holding a 56-52 lead with 11:55 to play. From that point, however, North Texas seized control.
An alley-oop dunk by Jordan Williams from Alzee Williams put North Texas in front, 57-56. Jackson State drew even at 59-59, but the Mean Green retook the lead for good on an Alzee Williams free throw, gained breathing room on a Jordan Williams three-pointer, and pushed the advantage to
double figures on a Mitchell rebound and dunk put-back, 72-61.
A final 8-0 run finished off the win.
There was a moment of terror in the second half when Mitchell went down with an ankle sprain, but he returned shortly and played the rest of the game.
North Texas jumped out to an early 7-2 lead on the strength of three quick steals and a Mitchell dunk and free throw. But that burst was the exception for the Mean Green offense, which made just two of its first 13 field goal attempts and shot just 34 percent from the floor in the first half, including an 0-of-9 effort from three-point range.
Jackson State, meanwhile, made its living from beyond the three-point line. The Tigers were good on seven of 13 threes in the first half to keep close and eventually take the lead with 6:36 to play in the half, 18-17.
The Mean Green finally warmed up in the final six minutes of the half, led by Chris Jones and Jacob Holmen with seven points apiece, but again the Tigers rallied again and closed the half with three free throws to take a 33-32 lead at halftime.
But North Texas did a much better job contesting the three in the second half, holding Jackson State to just three of 14 shooting beyond the arc.
North Texas has a few days off before its next game on December 16 against Southeastern Louisiana at the Super Pit. Game time is 1 p.m.
