Chattanooga, Tenn. (12/30/04) The North Texas men’s basketball team won a 75-70 thriller over Tennessee-Martin Thursday in the Dr. Pepper Classic consolation game to finish the two-day tournament with a split.
The Mean Green rebounded from a 72-56 setback to host Chattanooga yesterday to claim its fourth victory in its last five games. The Mean Green improved to 7-4, which is the programs best record through 11 games since 1994-95 when it was 7-4 as well.
In a back-and-forth game that saw that 18 lead changes and 10 ties, the Mean Green was able to come out on top thanks to some key free throws down the stretch. With the score tied 68-68, the Mean Green scored its final seven points at the charity stripe.
Freshman Quincy Williams, who finished with a career-high 15 points and 10 rebounds to collect his first career double-double, made two free throws to break the 68-68 tie with 1:34 left in the game. Leonard Hopkins made it a three-point game with 52 seconds remaining and Williams stepped up again 30 seconds later with two more free throws that made it a two possession game.
North Texas was led by Hopkins and Calvin Watson with a game-high 20 points each. Williams was the final NT player to score in double figures, but was joined in double-digit rebounds by Ron Harris with a season-high 10.
Hopkins led North Texas in scoring over the two-game tournament, finishing with a combined 41 points. Isaac Hines led North Texas on the boards, pulling down a team-best 18 rebounds for both games together.
There were 12 lead changes in the first 12 minutes of the game, but North Texas finally got some breathing room with 8:50 left in the opening half. Trailing 18-19, North Texas went on a 9-0 run to grab an eight-point lead and extended it to a game-high nine by the 1:04 mark of the first half. The Skyhawks cut the NT lead to 43-38 at halftime.
North Texas’ seven non-conference victories are its most since winning eight during the 1982-83 season. North Texas, which plays Sun Belt Conference foe New Mexico State in its next game, will enter league play with its most victories since winning seven in 1969-70 before starting its Missouri Valley Conference schedule. North Texas will also start conference play with a winning record for the first time since 1994-95.
North Texas will play
New Mexico State in
Las Cruces on Jan. 8 at 8:05 p.m. (CST). The game can be heard live on KWRD, 100.7 FM in the
Dallas/Ft. Worth area.
