UNT Advances To SBC Championship Game
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HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – North Texas men’s basketball advanced to its third straight Sun Belt Conference Championship game and fourth in the last six seasons on Monday night as it defeated No. 9 seed Arkansas State 76-72 at Summit Arena.
Junior Jacob Holmen was the driving force for the Mean Green offense (18-13), knocking down five shots from behind-the-arch and collecting a career-high 21 points to go along with his career-high four assists.
Last night’s hero Brandan Walton stepped up late in the game again, driving around three Red Wolves (14-20) defenders to gently lay the ball in the hoop to put North Texas up 69-67 with 48 seconds to play.
The ensuing ASU possession resulted in a missed shot and defensive rebound by Tony Mitchell and a Red Wolves foul. The Sun Belt Freshman of the Year would make both free throws and the Mean Green would finish off Arkansas State from there.
Holmen lifted the Mean Green early in the game, nailing three-pointers on three straight possessions to give North Texas a 21-11 lead with 12:06 remaining in the first half.
North Texas was in command for most of the first half and took a lead six point lead over the Red Wolves into the break thanks, in large part, to Holmen’s 16 first half points.
After Tony Mitchell claimed the first two points of the second half to extend the North Texas lead, Arkansas State mounted a 9-2 run to claim the lead from the Mean Green for the first time since the 15:28 mark of the first half.
The largest Red Wolves lead came with 5:25 to play when Trey Finn nailed a three-pointer to push the deficit to 65-62.
Mitchell, who had left the game at the 16:19 mark in the second half due to foul trouble, would return immediately afterwards and went straight to work. Six of Mitchell’s 11 total points on the night came in the final 4:24 of the game.
All five Mean Green starters scored in double figures as North Texas shot a season best 58.7 percent from the field and 61.5 percent from behind-the-arch.
North Texas will square-off with the winner of the Denver vs. Western Kentucky in the Sun Belt Championship game, Tuesday night at 6 p.m. at Summit Arena. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
