FORT WORTH, TEXAS – An inside basket through traffic with 2 seconds left in overtime by senior
Vernon Johnson (DeSoto, Texas) capped his season-high performance 19 points and secured the first Sooner Athletic Conference win of the campaign in a 76-75 victory over Texas Wesleyan on Monday night. The Trailblazers (4-2, 1-2 SAC) overcame a 15-point halftime deficit and trailed by as many as 17 early in the second half before erupting for 42 points in what would result in a tie.
UNT Dallas had overcome the deficit and led by five points (67-62) with 2:14 left in regulation. The teams battled down the stretch and a three-pointer by Texas Wesleyan's Vegas Evans with two seconds left knotted the game at 71. In overtime the teams combined for nine points. UNTD only trailed once during the extra period when the Rams (4-1, 0-1 SAC) went up with 1:07 remaining on a pair of Richard Amaefule free throws. The Trailblazers came up empty on the next possession with a missed jumper and chose to go for a stop down one instead of fouling. The defense made a massive stand with a missed trey and then the offensive rebound for the Rams turning into a change of possession thanks to an offensive foul. With 16 ticks left on the time, UNTD took a final shot at the win and Johnson, the all-time leading scorer and five-year stalwart lifted his team ahead by a point. The last two seconds had Texas Wesleyan heave a long shot from mid-court that went wide to the right and the Trailblazers escaped in the win column.
The Trailblazers held an early six-point lead a couple of times in the first half, but Texas Wesleyan was able to surge to a double-digit lead after 11 straight points. With around three minutes left in the first half, the Rams kept the gap around 10 points, as UNT Dallas did not score in the final 2:27 minutes after a trifecta by junior
Sergio McClain (Peoria, Ill.) slashed the deficit to eight points (37-29). Texas Wesleyan scored the final seven points of the stanza.
Down 46-29 just over two minutes into the next half, the Trailblazers got an offensive rebound and layup by junior
Greg Crawford (Houston, Texas) that sparked an 8-2 run capped by Crawford's steal and dunk to make it 48-37 just under five minutes into the second. A minute later, the Rams countered with six points in a row to match their largest lead of the game.
The UNTD bench delivered life back into the offense with two treys by juniors
Jason Orta (Crandall, Texas) and four points in a row by
Daniel Sohn (Aledo, Texas) to create a 10-point swing. A dunk by Sohn made it a 58-51 game, and then senior
Darion Jones (Austin, Texas) brought the score to five, which was the closest it had been since 5:27 left in the first half. Johnson had eight of the next 10 UNTD points during a 10-4 scoring streak that propelled the team up 63-62 with three and a half minutes left. Johnson started that surge with an old fashioned three-point play, had a steal that resulted in an eventual layup and then answered a Texas Wesleyan layup with a triple after Texas Wesleyan broke the first tie of the half. Jones had consecutive jumpers to increase the Trailblazers lead to five points before the thrilling heroics on both sides of this cross-city clash.
Johnson had 12 second-half points, which alone was the most points scored in a contest this season. He was 8-for-10 at the free throw line, had six rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Crawford registered his fourth double-double on the year with 14 points and 12 boards. Jones rounded out a trio of players in double figures with 12 points and contributed seven rebounds and two steals. McClain chipped in nine points, while Sohn had seven points and Orta made both of his field goal attempts from downtown.
UNT Dallas shot 44.6 percent from the field, which included 56.7 percent (17-30) in the second half. The team made five three-pointers and was 13-for-20 at the free throw line. The leading scoring teams in both halves had similar correlation in points off turnovers with Texas Wesleyan owning a 13-2 advantage in the first and UNTD boasting a 14-2 edge in the second. Second chance points were even at 12. There were seven lead changes and nine ties. The only lead change for the Trailblazers in overtime was the winning basket, which felt uplifting in an early grind to the SAC docket.
Texas Wesleyan was led by Trey Sinegal with 24 points. He added eight rebounds and three steals. Evans had 14 points, seven rebounds, and Amaefule claimed a double-double with 10 points and boards. Montez Young, Jr. scored 12 points from the bench.
UNT Dallas spends the next three games outside of the metroplex and is part of a stretch of five out of six away games. The Trailblazers go to Wayland Baptist on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. and Oklahoma Panhandle State on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
