DENTON - The North Texas men's basketball team opened the season in style with a 112-82 victory against Jarvis Christian Friday night inside the Super Pit.
Six players in double figures led the Mean Green to a lopsided victory in the season opener. Sophomore Jeremy Combs lead the team with 24 points off 10-of-14 from the floor and pulled down 11 rebounds. Combs earned his fourth career double-double and finished with two explosive dunks.
"I told our guys we want to make sure we share the basketball and I was really proud of our effort tonight," head coach Tony Benford said. "We wanted to set the tone offensively and push the pace. I loved our point guard play tonight with J-Mychal (Reese) and Ja'Michael Brown."
The guard play was stellar tonight with J-Mychal Reese (16 points), Ja'Michael Brown (16 points) and Deckie Johnson (15 points) all scoring in double figures. Reese added four assists and Brown dished out five in the win.
"We have some great young talent on this team but I think those guys came out and played with confidence," added Benford. "We want to put a lot of pressure on teams whether it is on offense or defense."
North Texas dominated the Bulldogs with 54 points in the paint and had 17 second chance points. The Mean Green also had 16 fast break points and got 39 points off the bench.
In the first half, North Texas opened the game with a huge 12-0 run capped off by an alley-op dunk from Combs. The Mean Green defense held Jarvis Christian scoreless for the first four minutes to open the contest.
North Texas continued to push the pace opening up a huge 42-18 lead off a fast break dunk by Combs at the 7:12 mark. The first half would end with a last second three pointer from Brown to push the lead to 56-32 at halftime.
Jarvis Christian tried to open the second half on a run but couldn't get closer than 21 points. With 11:26 remaining, Combs increased the lead to 30 points with a free throw giving North Texas an 82-52 lead.
Brice Jr. gave the Mean Green 101 points after converting a dunk with 5:15 left in the game. North Texas would score 11 more points as the final score was 112-82.
Next up for North Texas North Texas will remain home to face Texas College in game one of the Mean Green Challenge Monday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. in the Super Pit.
Mean Green Quick Hits -Freshman Rickey Brice Jr. had his first career double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds -Freshman Khalil Fuller scored 13 points and four rebounds -The Mean Green scored over 100 points for the first time in the Tony Benford era and first time since 2010 against Houston Baptist. -Sophomore Jeremy Combs was one point shy of tying his career high with 24 points -Junior transfer Deckie Johnson hit went 3-for-6 from the three point line in his first game scoring 15 points
