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UNT Dallas

UNT Dallas
Calendar
UNTDMBB at OCU
75
Winner UNT Dallas UNTD 8-10, 5-10
58
Oklahoma City OCU 10-9, 6-9
Winner
UNT Dallas UNTD
8-10, 5-10
75
Final
58
Oklahoma City OCU
10-9, 6-9
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
UNT Dallas UNTD 39 36 75
Oklahoma City OCU 29 29 58

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | nathanyacovissi

Trailblazers return to form and Outshine Stars to End Slide

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – University of North Texas at Dallas men's basketball stopped a season-long four-game losing streak and broke out of a slump in a big way with a 75-58 victory at Oklahoma City on Saturday at Abe Lemons Arena. It was the largest margin of victory this season for the Trailblazers, as a quartet of players from the starting lineup scored double figures.
 
Senior Jayden Johnson-Blair (Dallas, Texas) netted a career-high 18 points, grabbed five rebounds, dished three assists, swiped two steals, and even made a last-minute block. His energy was infectious, and the point guard was a catalyst in bringing the team's offense out of slumber and pushing the lead to double-digits by halftime, 39-29. Unlike the first meeting in Dallas, the Trailblazers held strong in the second half and earned the season-split.
UNT Dallas improves to 8-10 overall and 5-10 in Sooner Athletic Conference play. The Stars fell to 10-9 overall and 6-9 in the SAC. This is the team's largest margin of victory against the Stars and second overall at Oklahoma City.
 
Like Thursday night, the Trailblazers started the game with a quick-pace energy and scored the first four points. They never fell behind in this game, while the Stars did compete to keep the game tight. Senior Ashton Howard (Cedar Hill, Texas) and junior Greg Crawford (Houston, Texas) were responsible for UNTD's nine points and the latter's three-point play turned the score to 9-4 three and a half minutes in. Two free throws by senior Darion Jones (Austin, Texas) put the team's fourth double-digit scorer in that column, and a dunk on the fastbreak by Howard put the explanation on an early 13-6 run.
 
A four-minute drought by the Trailblazers gave OCU an opportunity to bring it to a one-point margin with 1 minutes left in the first half. UNTD found its rhythm again as Johnson-Blair inbounded under his own basket with a nifty pass off the back of an OCU defender and then made a basket while drawing a foul. The and-one play was completed, and the Trailblazers went ahead by four. Both teams continued trading points with the guests holding a narrow lead but never allowing a tie. With 4:44 left prior to intermission, Johnson-Blair sank a trey to spark a 12-point streak for over two minutes and propel UNTD out by double-digits. Johnson-Blair made a second trey in this run, while Crawford had the final four points to open a 39-26 score. A triple by OCU's Avery Jackson closed the scoring of the half, and the final two minutes were scoreless.
 
Johnson-Blair tallied 13 points, while Crawford had 11 in the opening half and both were determining factors in the Trailblazers confidence those 20 minutes.
 
The second half began with senior Vernon Johnson (DeSoto, Texas) finding a jumper to spark a 7-2 stretch. After OCU scored, Johnson-Blair drilled his third trifecta and Johnson forced a steal to find Howard on a fastbreak dunk and open the greatest lead of the time at 15 (46-31). The Stars used a few old fashioned three-point plays to cut into the deficit. An 8-2 scoring span brought the margin to single-digits (48-39), but UNTD's Jones had a layup and then scored two more points to extend the lead back over the 10-point threshold. A jumper by junior Sergio McClain (Peoria, Ill.) completed a stretch of six points and tied the largest lead of the game at that juncture, again.
 
A minute before the midway mark of the second, the Trailblazers new largest lead of the game (17) would be erased with an 8-0 run by Oklahoma City to make it a nine-point deficit one more time. The previous four points were steals that led to OCU scores, including a dunk by Jack McWilliams and then a layup from Yorgio Golesis after his theft. With eight minutes left and looking to avoid a repeat in November at Dallas where a double-digit lead was lost and resulted in a two-point defeat, the Trailblazers called timeout with eight and a half minutes remaining. The nine-point margin never reduced closer as Howard had a three-point play, Jones connected on a three, and a block by Howard led to Johnson getting a rebound and going the distance of the court for a layup to make the lead 17, again. The rest of the game was in-hand, as the Trailblazers led by as many as 19 and enjoyed a satisfying triumph after their most frustrating stretch of the campaign by far.
 
Another key performer with Johnson-Blair was Howard tossing in 17 points with an 8-of-10 showing from the field. Howard was two points off a career-high, which he had against Jarvis Christian (11/2/24). This meant Howard scored a conference-high and most points in a road game. Additionally, it was his seventh game to eclipse double-digits but first of 2025 to do so. Howard added five rebounds and three blocks, which increased his record-setting mark with the program to 39.
 
Crawford reached double figures in points for an 18th game to keep his perfect streak alive, as he tallied 14 points. The league's leading rebounder missed one for another double-double as he hauled down a team-leading nine. He added two assists and steals to go with a block.
 
Jones also claimed 14 points and has 29 in his two games returning. Despite a tough night shooting, Jones put together a double-digit scoring game and grabbed seven rebounds for second-most on the team.
 
The team shot 28-of-67 (41.8 percent) from the field, putting up second-most field goal attempts this season. Five three-pointers were made and the team shot 14-for-18 at the free throw line. For the sixth time this season, UNTD eclipsed 40 rebounds in the game and tied the second-most 15 offensive rebounds. It was the ninth game this season for UNTD to make at least five blocked shots. The Trailblazers scored seven points-per-period on turnovers and held a 14-6 edge. They also held favorable leads on second chance points (20-4) and points in the paint (38-28).
 
The rebounding edge was 40-35, thanks to five players achieving at least five individually. Additionally in the quintet to the previous mentioned players was sophomore Grant Ekakitie (Duncanville, Texas) hauling in a season-best during seven minutes of action.
 
Oklahoma City shot 40.4 percent and struggled from three with a 2-of-11 mark. The team was an effective 10-for-11 at the charity stripe. Yorgio Golesis scored a team-leading 16 points and dished five dimes. James Cloud had 11 points.
 
UNT Dallas wraps up a busy stretch of three games in six days with an away game on Monday afternoon at Science and Arts. Tip-off is around 3:00 p.m. after the women's game.  
 
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