University of North Texas Athletics
Mean Green Falls At Southeast Missouri State, 75-68
12/22/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (12/22/03) The North Texas men’s basketball team (4-5) couldn’t hang on to a lead that reached as much as 13 points in the second half, suffering a 75-68 setback to Southeast Missouri State (6-3) on Monday at the Show Me Center.
North Texas held a 46-36 lead with 15:21 remaining, but was outscored 16-0 over the next 4:24 and fell behind 52-46. The Indians built their lead to 65-55 with a little over six minutes to play, but the Mean Green didn’t go away and rallied to pull within 66-67 with 3:18 left. However, SEMO went on a 5-0 run at that point and didn’t let North Texas get any closer than three points the rest of the way.
SEMO, which shot 34 percent from the field in the first half, caught on fire in the second half to give it the spark it needed. The Indians shot 71 percent from the floor and hit 5-of-6 three’s in its comeback effort over the final 20 minutes. The Mean Green was consistent, hitting 48 percent of its shots in the first half and 47 percent in the second half.
Shawnson Johnson, named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week earlier in the day, led North Texas in scoring and rebounds for the third consecutive game. Johnson scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Jerome Rogers joined him in double figures with 13 points. Six Mean Green players scored at least five points. Four NT players pulled down at least five rebounds to lead the team in a dominating performance on the boards, outrebounding the Indians 36-26.
North Texas led for the entire first half, building its largest advantage of the game to 14 points with 39 seconds before halftime. SEMO’s Brett Hale hit a desperation three that banked in with no time remaining on the clock to make the score 35-24 heading into the locker room.
Led by Brandon Griffin with a game-high 17 points, Southeast Missouri State had four players score in double figures.
The game concluded a four-game road stretch for North Texas, which is back in action against Indiana at the Super Pit on Dec. 29.
-Box Score-
