University of North Texas Athletics
Ragin' Cajuns Push Past Mean Green, 86-79
2/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
DENTON (2/3/05) Sun Belt Conference West Division co-leader Louisiana-Lafayette jumped out to an early lead against North Texas and extended it in the second half to pull out a 86-79 victory over the Mean Green Thursday night at the Super Pit in men’s basketball action.
“We scored 79 points, and that is enough to beat some teams, but our defense gave up too much,” said
The Mean Green was within two points of Louisiana-Lafayette midway through the first half before the Ragin’ Cajuns scored eight unanswered points to take a 27-17 lead. ULL would go ahead by as much as 12 in the first half, 35-23, capped with a dunk by Brian Hamilton. After a technical foul was issued to Hamilton, NT’s Leonard Hopkins made two free throws to start a 12-4 run and bring the Mean Green back within four points at half.
The Ragin’ Cajuns brought the lead back to double digits with a 16-7 run to start the second half. Tiras Wade gave ULL its largest lead of the game with a three-pointer, 55-42. Wade led all scorers with 20 points, including 12 in the first half.
Ron Harris cut the ULL lead to seven twice, at 61-54 and 63-56, but
Six players scored in double figures for the Mean Green, including 10 from Justin Barnett who played in his third straight game after missing nine with a hand injury. The last time
Louisiana-Lafayette shot 53.2 percent from the field, forced 17 NT turnovers and recorded 12 steals.
North Texas continues its homestand with a Saturday night game against
