MOBILE, Ala. (2/29/04) The North Texas men’s basketball team (13-14, 8-7) had its two-game winning streak snapped Sunday, dropping an 80-63 decision to South Alabama (12-15, 6-9) at the Mitchell Center in both team’s regular-season finale.
North Texas will enter the Sun Belt Conference Tournament as the No. 4 or No. 5 seed, depending on the outcome of Monday night’s game between Florida International and Middle Tennessee. If the Blue Raiders win, North Texas will be the No. 6 seed and play No. 3 New Orleans on Sunday at 8 p.m. If FIU wins, then North Texas will be the No. 5 seed and take on No. 4 Western Kentucky in the opening round on Sunday at 5:30 p.m.
With the victory, South Alabama clinched the eighth and final seed in the league tournament.
The Jaguars used a late first-half push to take a 39-32 halftime lead that it didn’t relinquish the rest of the game. The Mean Green pulled within 41-36 three minutes into the second half, but got no closer. USA opened up a 49-36 lead with 14:55 remaining and held at least an eight-point advantage the rest of the way.
The Mean Green shot 50 percent from the field and gave up only one more rebound to the Jags, but was hurt by 22 turnovers. The Jaguars hit 45 percent of their shots and 15-of-17 free throws, while committing nine fewer turnovers than North Texas.
Michael DeGrate led North Texas with 17 points and seven rebounds, both team highs. Leonard Hopkins was the only other Mean Green player to score in double figures, finishing with 11 points. At the same time, 10 different NT players scored in the game and all but two pulled down at least one rebound.
The first 16 minutes of the game was a back-and-forth battle that saw 10 lead changes before USA broke a 30-30 tie off a Chris Young three with 3:39 left that started a 9-2 run and took the Jaguars into halftime with a seven-point advantage.
North Texas ends the regular season with an 8-7 Sun Belt Conference record, tying its best ever in the league. North Texas also ends the regular season with at least 13 wins for the second time in the last three years.
