NEW ORLEANS, La. (2/4/06) New Orleans’ Jamie McNeilly hit a jumper with 4.3 seconds remaining to lift the Privateers to a 75-74 victory over the North Texas men’s basketball team on Saturday at the Human Performance Center.
The Mean Green dropped its third consecutive game, its longest skid of the season, and is now 12-9 overall and 5-5 in Sun Belt action. New Orleans won its second straight game to improve to 7-14 overall and 4-6 in league play.
North Texas took a 57-56 lead with 9:40 left in the game and held the advantage until the 2:56 mark when the Privateers canned a three pointer to tie the score at 70-70. UNO took a brief lead at 71-70, but NT scored the next four points to lead by three with 1:20 remaining.
The Privateers scored the games’ final four points, including McNeilly’s game winner. NT’s Isaac Hines got a look at the basket as time expired, but his running three-pointer fell off the front of the rim.
North Texas got a game-high 25 points from junior guard Kendrick Davis and shot 45 percent as a team, but UNO was just as good with four players scoring in double figures and posting a .500 field goal percentage.
North Texas also got 12 points from both senior center Jeffrey Simpson and Hines, while sophomore forward Quincy Williams pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
The Mean Green outrebounded UNO 36-29 and also had eight steals, but the Privateers committed just 12 turnovers. New Orleans had a big night at the free throw line, hitting 24-of-34 attempts.
The first half was a back-and-forth battle that saw six ties and five lead changes before the Mean Green went on a 10-2 run over the final three minutes to take a 43-39 lead into the break.
North Texas returns to the Super Pit to host Middle Tennessee at 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 9, in its final home Sun Belt Conference game of the year.
