DENTON — Umoja Gibson, Jorden Duffy and Michael Miller combined to score 59 points against Marshall Sunday afternoon, eight more points than the Thundering Herd scored against the Mean Green in their first meeting on Feb. 7. 

However on Sunday, it was a different Marshall team that came to play. And 59 points from three starters wasn't going to be enough as UNT lost 85-82 in Super Pit on the final home game of the 2018-19 season.

"Defensively we fatigued down the stretch and gave up a lot of layups at the basket,"said head coach Grant McCasland. "A lot of them seemed to come in transition."

Similar to their previous matchup this season, which the Mean Green won by 27, North Texas on Sunday took a solid 43-31 lead into halftime — the most points they've scored in a first half since scoring 48 at Rice on Dec. 29 in the first half. Additionally, UNT was connecting on three-pointers, something they'd struggled with as of late. They went into the break having made 7-of-14 from deep. They entered Sunday's game only averaging a little more than eight three-pointers per game. 

The double-digit lead, though, wouldn't last long as Marshall, unlike in their first meeting, fought back and did so quickly. Marshall opened the second-half on a 13-3 run and cut the Mean Green's lead down to just two points. Then less than two minutes later, Marshall took its first lead of the game with one of its six second-half three-pointers. 

"They came out with more energy and they're a great shooting team," said Miller. "Credit to them."

North Texas (20-10, 8-9 C-USA) recaptured the lead shortly after and traded leads with the Herd for a few minutes but struggled to contain the Marshall offense that features Jon Elmore, who on Sunday became the league's all-time leading scorer. He finished with 20 points — 16 more than he scored in the two teams' first meeting. 

A late run by the Mean Green, fueled by Miller who scored 14 of his 18 in the second-half, brought North Texas within a possession of Marshall (16-13, 9-7 C-USA) but couldn't get the game-tying shot to fall.

"We fought hard and should've won but we got outplayed in the last stretch of the game," Miller said.

Though the loss, McCasland did see positives to take away from Sunday's game, especially on the offensive end. And he empathized emphatically that he is optimistic and believes in his team. 

"Today gave us a positive look at where we could go as a group," McCasland said of his team. "We have a lot of fight to us and have some huge games left to play. We had a great combo guard look today with Duffy out there and Mike (Miller) made some great decisions out there. Unfortunately, defensively we fatigued."

Miller, who drew a game-high six fouls on Sunday and converted on three and-one foul opportunities, was one of three Mean Green seniors who played their final game in the Super Pit on Sunday. To go along with his 18 points Miller had a career-high six assists and added seven rebounds. 

Duffy was another. Duffy finished with 20 points, the second-most points he's scored this season. Duffy, who missed eight straight games earlier in the season due to injury, has started to find his groove since coming back and was a major part of the offense on Sunday as he attempted a caeer-high 16 shots — he made seven of them. 

North Texas will conclude the regular season on Saturday March 9 at Florida International in Miami. The game is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. CT on CUSA.TV. The game will also be aired on the Mean Green Sports Radio Network.