University of North Texas Athletics
Five-For-Five: Men Rally From 21 Down
7/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | General
Two days after an impressive victory over Conference-USA leader UAB, North Texas fell behind by 21 points to Middle Tennessee. But the Mean Green found its defense and shut down a formerly-red hot Blue Raider attack, located its offense behind Jordan Williams and Colin Voss to pull within eight with 3:32 to play, then finished off a sensational comeback by hitting nine-of-10 free throws down the stretch for a stunning 57-56 victory.
The win tied for the largest rally school history.
North Texas took its second lead of the night - and first since 2-0 in the opening minute - at 55-54 when Voss hit two free throws with 16.8 seconds to play. With 6.5 seconds left, Middle Tennessee made its first field goal in its last 11 attempts to go back on top, 56-55, but the Mean Green's DeAndre Harris immediately counter-attacked, driving the length of the court to the basket and drawing a foul with two seconds to play. He canned both free throws, and MTSU turned the ball over trying to get off a final shot.
Trailing 41-20 with 18:04 to play, North Texas picked up its intensity on defense. After shooting 64 percent from the floor in the first half, the Blue Raiders were held to 22.7 percent in the second half and could manage just 10 points in the final 12 minutes.
