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University of North Texas
Columbia
Columbia's 12 Threes Down NT Basketball
12/3/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Box Score
Postgame Notes
LOS ANGELES – The 3-point line was Columbia’s friend and North Texas’ enemy in Saturday’s action at the Doubletree LA Westside LMU Centennial Classic. The Lions hit 12 from downtown while the Mean Green was 0-11 in a 57-72 loss at Gersten Pavilion.
Columbia (4-4) hit 12-of-19 from deep in knocking off Loyola Marymount on Friday night, and got even better with 12-of-17 shooting against the Mean Green (2-5). North Texas went without a 3-pointer for just the second time in school history.
Chris Jones led the Mean Green with 13 points, while Kedrick Hogans just missed his first career double-double with 12 points and a career-high tying nine boards. He also logged a pair of blocks to give him 86 for his career – the third most in school history.
The Mean Green turned up the tempo with full-court pressure and forced an 8-0 run that made it 60-53 after a Franklin layup with 4:11 on the clock, but that’s as close as NT would come. Columbia’s 12 three-pointers are the most by an NT opponent since Oklahoma State hit 13 in 2008.
Columbia’s Meiko Lyles went 5-of-5 from deep and finished with a game-high 18 points.
North Texas’ Roger Franklin also reached double figures with 12 points for his third straight game with at least a dozen points.
Jordan Williams opened the game with a jumper from the free throw line, but the Lions ripped off a 10-0 run thanks to a pair of 3-pointers from Lyles. Hogans stopped the bleeding with a dunk from the right baseline with 15:50 left in the half.
Columbia simply couldn’t miss from deep in the opening half, knocking down their first four 3-point attempts and 7-of-8. Those 3-pointers helped the Lions build a 12-point lead with just over five minutes to play in the first. They would lead by as many as 16 in the contest.
That’s when Franklin and the Mean Green logged an 8-2 run that got them back into the game. The Oklahoma State transfer hit a pair of jumpers and found Hogans for a dunk to make the score 31-25 with two minutes and change on the clock.
Columbia’s Lyles landed a late 3-pointer, his fourth of the half, to send the Lions into the break on top 38-27.
The inside combo of Hogans and Franklin hit a pair of jumpers each out of the halftime break to cut the Columbia lead to seven, but the Lions had a pair of answers from 3-point land.
North Texas will wrap up play in the LMU Centennial Classic against hosting Loyola Marymount tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. CST.
