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UNT Dallas

UNT Dallas
Calendar
UNTDMBB at USAO 2
62
Science and Arts SCIENCE 8-11, 6-9
74
Winner UNT Dallas UNT DALL 9-10, 6-10
Science and Arts SCIENCE
8-11, 6-9
62
Final
74
UNT Dallas UNT DALL
9-10, 6-10
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Science and Arts SCIENCE 28 34 62
UNT Dallas UNT DALL 38 36 74

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | nathanyacovissi

UNT Dallas Men's Basketball Sweeps Regular Season Series at USAO

CHICKASHA, Okla. – A balanced scoring effort from a quartet of the starting five helped build a 10-point halftime lead that carried University of North Texas at Dallas men's basketball to an eventual 74-62 victory on Monday afternoon over University of Science and Arts at Drover Fieldhouse. Making the trip a second time this season to USAO, the Trailblazers did not need a second half rally this time and left with a regular season sweep.
 
UNT Dallas won its second straight game and twice in the past three days on the start of a road swing that has one more next Saturday at Nelson. The Trailblazers are 9-10 overall and 6-10 in Sooner Athletic Conference play. USAO falls to 8-11 on the season with a 6-9 league mark. After six spots in the league standings feature team's with a winning record, the Trailblazers join three other teams for the final two spots of the tournament with six wins. Two of those squads are Oklahoma City and USAO, who are UNTD's latest wins since dropping four.
 
The Trailblazers got double-digit scoring efforts from four players in the starting lineup, led by junior Greg Crawford (Houston, Texas) and senior Darion Jones (Austin, Texas) with 18 points apiece. Crawford notched his 12th double-double of the campaign and continues his perfect bid of scoring double-digits on the year with all 19 games. It is the longest double-digit scoring streak in program history with Jules Moor putting together a 15-game run in 2022-23. Jones is on a nice run of his own, scoring double figures in 10-of-11 games played and only missing the perfect streak by a single-point. He went 6-for-6 at the free throw line and is 10-for-10 on the road trip.
 
Junior Daniel Sohn (Aledo, Texas) contributed 14 points, doing most of his damage in the first half with 13 points and hitting his first six field goals. Senior Ashton Howard (Cedar Hill, Texas) completed the quartet with 11 points.
UNTD led wire-to-wire in this game, as Jones and Sohn scored the first points on layups. A triple by Ryein Kennedy from USAO got the team on the board and brought the score to a point, but that was the only time the margin got that tight the rest of the way. The Trailblazers scored the next six points with a layup by Crawford and then back-to-back layups by Sohn with the latter coming on a steal and dime from senior Jayden Johnson-Blair. After USAO kept things at one possession on a few baskets, junior Sergio McClain (Peoria, Ill.) scored back-to-back jumpers to open a 16-9 advantage with 12:17 left in the first. McClain had six points from the bench.
 
Sohn opened a 10-point lead for the first time on the afternoon with his one triple he knocked down and completed his 13-point opening frame with 6:44 left before intermission. Sohn was a perfect 6-of-6 shooting at this juncture, although he cooled missing a three in the closing seconds and was 6-of-8 for the game.
 
Up 27-17, the Drovers made their strongest run with eight straight points over the next two minutes to pull within two. The Trailblazers countered with a layup by Jones and then a steal by Johnson-Blair led to Jones being fouled and he made both free throws. Jones had a theft on the next play and after a missed trey, the Trailblazers got a second chance on the offensive rebound by McClain, who assisted to Johnson, and he buried his second try from downtown on that trip. McClain pushed the advantage to 10 again on two free throws to wrap up his six points of the game in that frame. An old fashioned three-point play put Howard at the line with 31 seconds left and sent UNTD into halftime with a 38-28 lead.
 
The Trailblazers held control throughout the second stanza. Four points by Crawford started the scoring for UNTD, but the next five points including a three-point play the hard way by Ryein Kennedy and layup by Zach Hays placed the score in single-digits (9) one final time a little over two and a half minutes in. Crawford kept his scoring stretch going to six and Howard followed with consecutive layups to push the team's greatest lead at the time to 15 (48-33). UNTD's defense highlighted those final two baskets as Howard got a block and rebound to then go be rewarded on the other side by Johnson on the assist. McClain swiped a steal on the next play and Howard would take the basket in the paint on the next eventual score. After USAO scored, Jones made a trifecta, and Crawford scored a layup to give UNTD its largest lead of the game with a 53-35 tally and just over 12 minutes to play.
 
That margin was matched another occasion not long after, as the Drovers went on a small surge to cut the gap to 12 just past the halfway point. Johnson halted the streak with a trey. The Drovers pulled within 11 twice, but a layup by Crawford at 6:12 left and two free throws at 4:49 helped stretch the five-point span back to 16 (65-49). Sohn had the other free throw make for his final point. He had done the heavy lifting in the first and Crawford picked up the scoring load in the second with 16 of his points coming in that half. The remainder of the game was the teams trading small bursts of points, as the Trailblazers avoided stress in this win. USAO came within 10 (70-60) with about 30 seconds left, but Crawford and Jones were perfect on their free throws to ensure no drama occurred.
 
Last season the team only swept one season series in conference play, which was Oklahoma Panhandle State.
 
The Trailblazers shot 49.1 percent from the field, which included 35.3 percent (15-28) in the opening frame. Despite going 4-of-11 from three-point territory overall, the Trailblazers were an effective 3-of-4 during the last 20 minutes. It was another strong performance at the free throw line with an 18-for-21 (85.7 percent) effort. Five of the past six games have seen UNTD miss four free throws or fewer and are 88-for-104 in those games. Both outings are the road saw the team pick up exactly five blocks and 10 steals. Howard picked up two blocks to build his season and career program record marks to 41. Sohn and Johnson-Blair each had three steals.
 
The Trailblazers held a 17-9 edge on points off turnovers, including 10-2 in the first. They led 15-7 on second chance points, including 11-3 in the second. UNTD also led on points in the paint, 38-34 and were big on the glass with a 39-25 advantage. The 25 rebounds allowed to an opponent tied the fewest this season with the other being the season opener at Dallas Christian (10/26/24).
 
USAO held an 11-8 edge on fastbreak points, including 9-0 in the second, which countered the Trailblazers' 8-2 edge in the first. The Drovers shot 38.9 percent overall and 2-of-15 from three. They were 18-for-22 at the free throw line. Kennedy matched a game-high 18 points and was the third player in the game to hit that total. Mohand Ammad almost had a double-double with 17 points and nine boards. Tre Edwards chipped in 10 points and three steals.  
 
UNT Dallas returns to the DFW area and will be down the highway to Waxahachie to face Nelson on Saturday with a 4:00 p.m. tip-off.
 
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