University of North Texas
Denver
Five-Game Streak Over Denver Snapped
1/29/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Box Score
DENVER - All good things must come to an end, and that's exactly what happened to North Texas' five-game win streak over Denver on Saturday. The Pioneers splashed home a dozen 3-pointers and held off the Mean Green for an 80-67 afternoon victory at Magness Arena.
George Odufuwa grabbed his 27th career double-double for North Texas (16-6, 5-4 Sun Belt), which has now lost back-to-back games for the first time this season. DU (11-10, 7-1 Sun Belt) strengthens its lead on the SBC West and remains undefeated at home in league play.
"I think that Denver did a great job of shooting the basketball. We didn't do a great job of containing them, and credit them, they fed off of it," said North Texas head coach Johnny Jones. "Denver played like a 7-1 Sun Belt team today."
An Odufuwa put-back brought the DU lead back to within five at 53-48 with nine minutes to play, but that's as close as the Mean Green would come as a pair of DU 3-pointers opened up a double-digit lead once again. Denver led by as many as 16.
Josh White, Tristan Thompson and Shannon Shorter all reached double-figures for the Mean Green with 15, 13 and 10 points respectively .
North Texas jumped all over the hosting Pioneers out of the gate. White drilled a 25-foot 3-pointer and Shorter completed an "And-1" 3-point play to give NT an early 11-3 lead.
Thompson and White teamed up to make their first four 3-point attempts, and powered a Mean Green offense that shot 68.8 percent in the first half.
Still, it was the Denver three-ball that was the story of the first half. The Pioneers hit 13 total field goals in the first and eight were from beyond the arc. Brian Stafford ended up hitting five from deep, while Tyler Thalken had three and Trevor Noonan and Chase Hallam hit a pair each.
A Noonan layup tied the game at 21 with just over 9 minutes remaining in the half, and DU would hit four more 3-pointers to head into the break up 39-34. The Pioneers held a 14-0 halftime edge in points off turnovers.
North Texas returns to action on Thursday against Florida Atlantic. Action from the Super Pit is slated for 7 p.m.
