University of North Texas Athletics
Mean Green Defeats UNO To Clinch Berth In League Tourney
2/26/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
NEW ORLEANS, La. (2/26/04) The North Texas men’s basketball team (13-13, 8-6) claimed an 84-81 victory over New Orleans (14-13, 8-6) on Thursday at Lakefront Arena to secure a spot in the upcoming Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
The victory not only guarantees the Mean Green a trip to the league tournament, but also moves them into a two-way tie for second place in the West Division of the conference. NT also broke a seven-game skid to UNO, giving the Mean Green its first win over the Privateers as Sun Belt opponents.
Leonard Hopkins scored a career-tying 25 points to lead the North Texas attack, while Michael DeGrate also poured in a career-best 20 points.
North Texas scored just four points over the first six minutes of the second half as New Orleans opened up a 60-44 lead. Down 65-52 with 10:26 remaining, the Mean Green went on a 19-5 run over the next six minutes to take its first lead of the second half at 71-70. North Texas took the lead for good with 3:35 to go off a three-point basket by senior guard Jerome Rogers that broke a 74-74 tie. UNO cut its deficit to one-point at 78-77 at the 2:46 mark, but NT used a solid performance from the free throw line to hold the Privateers off down the stretch.
Behind the strength of a game-high nine rebounds from both DeGrate and Will Smith, North Texas collected 37 rebounds in comparison to UNO’s 35. The Mean Green finished with a .450 shooting percentage, while UNO shot .464 from the field. North Texas shot an impressive .619 from beyond the arc, which is the fifth highest ever in school history for a single game.
The Mean Green went on a 13-0 run midway through the opening half to match its largest lead of the game at 21-16 with 8:52 left before the break. UNO fired back with a 14-4 run over the next 2:22 to regain the advantage, 30-25. Trailing 41-37, DeGrate grabbed a defensive rebound and fired an incredible full-court shot that banked in as time expired in the first half and cut the UNO lead to just one point.
North Texas head coach Johnny Jones picked up his 50th victory of his career with the win.
The Mean Green will play at South Alabama on Sunday at 1 p.m. in its final regular-season game.
