University of North Texas
Troy
Tristan Thompson, NT Three-Ball Vault Mean Green Past Troy
1/15/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
TROY, Ala. (1/14/10) - North Texas tangled with the best in the Sun Belt East and came away with a 75-72 win over Troy on Thursday night at Trojan Arena.
Needing a win to get back into the West Division race, the Mean Green (11-6, 4-3 Sun Belt) rode Josh White, Tristan Thompson and the 3-ball to beat the 2-3 zone of Troy (9-8, 4-2 Sun Belt). The juniors combined on 7-of-15 from deep, and Thompson came away with a clutch steal with 54 seconds left to help ice the game.
North Texas hit 8-of-10 free throws in the final minute of the game, five of which came from Thompson, who led all scorers with 21 points. Troy's Brandon Hazzard had a look at the game-tying 24-foot 3-pointer with George Odufuwa and Richard Thomas in his face, but it clanked out at the buzzer.
Eric Tramiel returned to the court for NT after a four-game break to heal an injured wrist, and didn't take long to find his way into the scorebook. The senior connected on a 15-foot jumper from the left baseline to score his first points since Dec. 22 against Southeastern Louisiana, and ended the night with 11 points.
Tramiel lent a spark to the NT scoring efforts, but he sure put an end to the Mean Green depth issues. NT clubbed the Trojans in bench scoring with a 34-13 advantage, and held Troy to 5-of-19 (26.3 percent) from 3-point.
White vaulted the Mean Green out to a 3-0 lead with a deep trey from the right corner on NT's first possession. The bucket was White's 120th career 3-pointer, which ranks eighth in NT history.
His playmaking ability helped NT shake the signature Troy zone defense with a potent dribble-drive. The junior went coast-to-coast twice in the first half for a pair of layups, and hit two from deep. White wasn't far behind Thompson with 18 points on 4-of-8 shooting from deep.
A big board from Cam Spencer led to a game-tying second-chance 3-pointer for North Texas. The big man hauled in the arching rebound and White found Thompson to tie the game at 17 apiece with eight minutes left in the first.
From there NT cruised to a 33-26 halftime lead despite 35 percent shooting. North Texas' defense was the key, which held the Trojans to 37.5 percent shooting, including 1-9 from deep. NT is now 10-0 this year when leading at the half.
North Texas returns to action on Saturday at home against Arkansas State. Tip off from the Super Pit is slated for 7 p.m.
