Shannon Shorter remembers the day his mother’s patience finally ran out.

North Texas’ starting small forward was in high school at the time, and always seemed to be in trouble. He got into fights, talked back to teachers and didn’t listen to anyone, least of all Selina Maxwell, who kicked Shorter out of her house that day and sent him to his grandmother’s for misbehaving yet again.

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North Texas guard Shannon Shorter has become a key player in his first season with the Mean Green, which will play in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference tournament on Sunday night.

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Shorter’s mother figured that if anyone could straighten out her son, it was Dee Lazard, who just so happened to be a national class bodybuilder.

“My grandma asked me to do something and I just looked at her,” Shorter said. “She asked me again. When I didn’t do it, she smacked me in the head. I looked at her in a totally different way after that. She put the fear into me. After that, it was a whole different story.”

It’s a story that will continue this week in the Sun Belt Conference tournament in Hot Springs, Ark., where Shorter will play the tough-guy role for North Texas.

The Mean Green enters the event as the No. 2 seed and will face the winner of a game between Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana-Monroe in a quarterfinal game on Sunday night. UNT (21-8) won the Sun Belt’s West Division title and enters the tournament with its highest seed ever during its decade-long stay in the league.

Shorter’s teammates credit him for playing a critical — although often unnoticed role — in the Mean Green’s success.

Shorter didn’t secure his role as a starter until Jan. 7, but has since developed into a cornerstone in UNT’s rotation.Josh White, UNT’s starting point guard, described Shorter as the Mean Green’s “glue guy” — a player who does the little things it takes for a team to win from rebounding to diving on to the floor for loose balls, and, most important, being a physical defensive presence on the floor.

“Shannon does a little of everything for us,” White said. “Coach doesn’t hesitate to put him on anyone defensively and he is also a threat on the offensive end. He’s so strong and he is in great shape. That’s what I admire about him.”

Shorter, a 6-4 guard, leaves no doubt as to how he developed into maybe UNT’s most physical and intimidating defender.

It was by following the lead of Lazard, who at 65 is actively competing, and winning, on the national bodybuilding circuit, where she picked up the nickname “Hard Body Dee.”

 “I see her doing the things she is doing and think ‘Dang, she is 65. I’m 20. I have to do something.’ I can’t have her looking at me thinking, ‘Dang, he’s fat.’”

Growing up in the weight room

One of Donald Pardue Jr.’s most vivid memories of his childhood is of piling into the car with Shorter, his younger brother, and heading to the gym with Lazard.

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Shorter credits his development as an athlete and person in large part to his grandmother Dee Lazard, who is a national class bodybuilder. Lazard trained Shorter in high school and still lifts with him in the summer.

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“She would take us to the gym every day no matter what,” Pardue said. “We would play basketball while she was training people.”

It was at that gym that Shorter watched Lazard gradually turn herself into a national class bodybuilder.

Lazard started out as a trainer and aerobics instructor. After 12 or 13 years, she decided to enter her first bodybuilding competition at the age of 55.

She won the competition, and the next one after that.

Lazard was hooked.

“It keeps me young,” Lazard said of competing. “The age is there, but I don’t feel 65.”

Lazard competes at national events on a regular basis and finished second in her division at this year’s National Physique Committee Masters, Teen & Collegiate National Champion-ships.

UNT head coach Johnny Jones has coached some muscular players through the years and was known as a physical defensive player during his career at LSU.

Even Jones was impressed when he met Lazard for the first time after a win over Houston Baptist earlier this season.

“She’s an impressive lady,” Jones said while putting hands in a circle to describe just how big Lazard’s arms are. “She has been a big influence for Shannon. You can tell from the way he carries himself the discipline that was instilled in him at an early age.”

Lazard set an example for Shorter throughout his childhood. She gets up at 4 a.m. every day and is at the gym a short time later, working out and training other bodybuilders.

Lazard was almost like a father figure for Shorter, who struggled at times growing up in a single-parent household with Maxwell and Lazard as his main influences.

“I was a really bad kid growing up,” Shorter said. “I was always in trouble. We moved around a lot and I would lose friends. I got into fights and arguments with teachers. My mom would have to come to school every other week because I was in trouble.”

Shorter began to turn the corner when Lazard confronted him and Maxwell threatened to not allow him to play high school basketball if he didn’t stay on a straight and narrow path.

Shorter adjusted and was named to the All-Greater Houston team as a senior, when he averaged 22.0 points a game for Houston Westside.

“He was a rebellious kid,” Lazard said. “I had to put a little fear in him. Once we did that, he was OK.”

Finding his niche at UNT

Shorter transferred to UNT last summer from Paris Junior College and joined a team that appeared poised for a breakout year. The Mean Green had all five of its starters returning from a team that finished 20-12 and lost to eventual Sun Belt champion Western Kentucky in the semifinals of the Sun Belt tournament.

Shorter seemed like a candidate to become UNT’s sixth man after key reserves Collin Dennis and Adam McCoy graduated.

UNT has relied on him for much more throughout the year.

The team lost starting guard Dominique Johnson to a broken ankle in the seventh game of the season, a void it tried to fill by moving fellow junior college transfer Richard Thomas into the lineup.

UNT’s coaches continued to experiment and eventually settled on Shorter as a starter before its loss to ULL on Jan. 7. Shorter’s role became even larger when Thomas left the team for personal reasons on Feb. 15

Shorter has developed into not only UNT’s best perimeter defender among its starters, but one of its best all-around players as well. He is averaging 6.8 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists a game.

Shorter has scored in double figures in seven of 15 games since he became a starter.

“Shannon is our utility guy,” Jones said. “He can guard the one [point guard] through the four [power forward]. His physical ability gives us an edge.”

Chis Seroka is in his 10th year as a strength and conditioning coach at UNT and works extensively with the men’s basketball team. He ranks Shorter among the best conditioned UNT basketball players he has worked with in his tenure at the school.

“Upper body wise he is pretty close to the strongest guy we have ever had,” Seroka said. “As far as work ethic, he is in the top 10 of the guys who have played here.”

Shorter’s strength made a difference in UNT’s 65-57 win over Louisiana-Lafayette on Feb. 25 that clinched at least a share of the Sun Belt West Division title for the Mean Green.

Shorter helped harass Louisiana-Lafayette’s front line that ranks among the most talented in the Sun Belt with 6-9 Colby Batiste, 6-8 Tyren Johnson and 6-7 Travis Bureau into a 13-for-36 shooting performance. Johnson, who was later named the Sun Belt’s Player of the Year, went just 8-for-22 from the field.

“[Shorter] does a good job of doing a lot of the dirty work,” ULL head coach Robert Lee said. “He guarded Tyren very well in the second half when we played them. That’s what he brings for them, being a glue guy and doing the dirty work.”

While it’s Shorter’s defensive ability that has drawn the most attention this season, he has also established himself as one of UNT’s best playmakers. Shorter ranks second among UNT players with 65 assists.

“Since Dominique went out, Shannon has taken it upon himself to be a playmaker,” White said. “When you have another guy who can create, it helps take pressure off me.”

Shorter’s teammates say his impact goes beyond what he provides on the court.

Junior forward George Odufuwa described Shorter as the team clown, one who keeps his teammates loose with his constant jokes and pranks.

“He’s a lot of fun to be around,” Odufuwa said. “He talks about his high school stats all the time. He remembers stats from every game he has ever played in from points to rebounds to assists. He’s a funny guy.”

Fruits of her labor

Watching Shorter develop into a key player for UNT has been especially rewarding for Lazard, who trained her grandson while he was in high school and still works with him when he is home in Houston.

“I love it,” Lazard said. “He will do whatever you ask him to. I wanted to teach him how to lift the right way. We train together when he is here. He has benefited from it. He is stronger, works on his goals and eats well most of the time. I admire his dedication.”

Shorter is perfectly comfortable having his grandmother train him. He has been under her tutelage ever since he was a kid.

And it’s hard to argue with the results.

“Shannon enjoys going to work out with her,” Maxwell said. “She’s a good influence on him. That is where he gets his work ethic because I don’t exercise like that. She has always been a health addict. He is very competitive when it comes to things like that.”

That competitive nature will be on display this week at the Sun Belt tournament.

Lazard will follow the tournament, just as she has every game Shorter has played. Her grandson might be her greatest student, one who has followed her lead ever since that day years ago when she slapped him, and set him on the right path in life.

The two were close before and have remained so ever since.

“I still see her probably every other weekend when the family gets together,” Shorter said. “I thank her for everything she has done for me.”

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .