Feb. 13, 2016
Junior J-Mychal Reese finished with 18 points and sophomore Jeremy Combs had 24 points in the loss at Charlotte (photo by Rick Yeatts).
Box score 
season statistics
C-USA stats
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The North Texas men's basketball team fell behind early and couldn't recover in a road loss at Charlotte, 103-79, Saturday night at Halton Arena.
The Mean Green went winless on the two-game road trip and gave up 56 first half points as the 49ers led wire-to-wire. North Texas falls to 9-16 overall and is 4-8 in Conference USA games.
"I don't think we played a complete 40 minutes tonight," head coach Tony Benford said. "Charlotte made a bunch of tough shots and we were outplayed tonight. Jeremy (Combs) had a great game for us but we didn't play well enough on the defensive end."
Sophomore Jeremy Combs finished with 24 and grabbed nine rebounds going 12 of 14 from the field. Combs has scored 20-plus points in six of 12 conference games and 13 straight games with 10 points or more. Junior J-Mychal Reese poured in 18 points and handed out four assists for the Mean Green. Junior Carrington Ward added nine points off the bench and went a perfect six for six from the free throw line.
North Texas held the leading rebounder in the C-USA Joseph Uchebo to just four rebounds and snapped his double-double streak at nine in a row. The Mean Green shot 50.0 percent in the second half but Charlotte had built a 21-point lead at halftime. Charlotte went 14 for 31 from the three point line proving the difference in the game.
In the first half, Charlotte opened the game on an 8-2 run thanks to a couple of three pointers by freshman Adrien White with 16:36 remaining in the half. North Texas battled back going on an 11-6 run to cut the lead to 14-13 off a layup by senior Eric Katenda at the 11:14 mark.
Charlotte would continue to hold the lead at 22-17 off a three pointer by Jon Davis with 8:25 left in the first half. Junior Deckie Johnson hit two free throws to get North Texas within three points at 22-19 at the 7:25 mark.
The 49ers pushed the lead to 20 points thanks to a monster 24-7 run capped by a fastbreak layup from Curran Scott. The half would end with Charlotte holding a 21-point lead at 56-35.
The Mean Green opened the second half outscoring Charlotte 11-8 to cut the lead to 64-46 off a layup by Reese with 15:25 remaining. The 49ers answered with a 12-3 run to open up a 27 point advantage with 12:11 remaining.
North Texas kept fighting with back-to-back buckets from Combs and Johnson cutting the lead to 23 at 76-53. With 6:40 left, NT got within 22 points off a three pointer from Reese to make the score 84-62.
Ward knocked down a couple of free throws at the 3:19 mark to make the score 95-72 but the 49ers lead the entire game.
Charlotte scored over 100 points for the second straight game defeating North Texas, 103-79.
What's Next
North Texas heads back home to host both Florida schools starting with FIU Thursday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. inside the Super Pit.
Mean Green Quick Hits
-North Texas has hit a three pointer in 76 straight games
-Sophomore Jeremy Combs scored in double figures for the 20 time this season and has scored 10-plus points in 12 straight games
- Junior J-Mychal Reese scored in double figures for the 20 time this season
- Reese had four assists, now has 101 for the season to become the first NT player to do so since 2013-14 -- Chris Jones
-Freshman Allante Holston tied his career high with four assists
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