University of North Texas
Houston Baptist
Men's Basketball Hangs On To Beat Huskies , 88-76
12/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Box Score
DENTON, Texas (12/15/08) Junior Dominique Johnson scored a career-high 20 points and Collin Dennis chipped in with 14 points off the bench and had a season-high seven assists, leading the North Texas men’s basketball team to a 8876 triumph over Houston Baptist, their third straight win.
The Mean Green improves to 7-2 overall, while the Huskies fall to 0-10. North Texas now leads the all-time series 5-1 over the Huskies and has won 16 consecutive non-conference games at home dating back to the 2006 season.
North Texas shot 50 percent from both the field (28-of-56) and three-point territory (9-of-18). Senior Josh White scored 13 points and Tristan Thompson pitched in 10 points, his fifth consecutive double-figure scoring effort.
North Texas held as much as a 15-point lead in the second half but Houston Baptist refused to go away. With 3:04 remaining in the contest Sean Morris stole a North Texas pass and took it coast-to-coast for a three-point play, cutting the North Texas lead to 77-72.
However, that would be as close as the Huskies would get as the Johnson hit a pair of clutch free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
The Mean Green received a collective effort in the first half as nine different players registered points en route to a 44-36 lead at intermission.
Johnson led the team in scoring with 11 first half points, along with three steals. North Texas did much of their scoring from three-point territory in the first half, connecting on 7-of-14 attempts, and led by as many as 13 points.
Houston Baptist was led by Gordon Watt, scoring a team-high a game-high 21 points.
North Texas saw the return of sophomore Collin Mangrum, who entered the game in the final minutes. Mangrum sat out the entire 2007-08 season to recover from various injuries.
North Texas returns to action on Thursday, Dec. 18 when they open up the Sun Belt season at Louisiana-Lafayette at 7 p.m.
