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UNT Dallas

Photo Recap MBB vs. USW
Photo Courtesy of Candice Nichols
81
Southwest SOUTHWES 3-4, 0-1
87
Winner UNT Dallas UNT DALL 2-3, 1-0
Southwest SOUTHWES
3-4, 0-1
81
Final
87
UNT Dallas UNT DALL
2-3, 1-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 OT 1 F
Southwest SOUTHWES 34 40 7 81
UNT Dallas UNT DALL 36 38 13 87

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | nathanyacovissi

Different Court, Same Home Result for Men's Basketball with OT Victory

CEDAR HILL, Texas – New home gym, same outcome for the University of North Texas at Dallas men's basketball team in 2025-26 season, as it took overtime to complete the win. The Trailblazers bounced back from allowing a three-pointer late to force the extra period and used a 13-7 overtime to prevail 87-81 over University of the Southwest on Saturday.
 
UNT Dallas is 2-0 in its home games with both triumphs in overtime. The Trailblazers looked good grabbing their first win in Red River Athletic Conference play, as they opened their new conference era in the new home for the Trailblazers the rest of the 2025-26 season, Trinity Leadership Public School.
 
The win snaps a two-game slide and moves UNTD to 2-3 overall and 1-0 in league play. Southwest falls to 3-4 and 0-1 after the conference opener.


 
Dreyon Thornton (Chicago, Ill.) was the hero in overtime, as he scored eight of his 11 points in the stanza. This included a crucial three-pointer and 3-for-4 at the free throw line. He also had a key steal and rebound.
 
Greg Crawford (Houston, Texas) recovered from an off-night on Monday at Paul Quinn, as he led the team with 24 points and hauled down seven rebounds. Crawford eclipsed 20 points in three-of-four games and was 100 percent from the field in seven attempts. He made 10 free throws and led the team with career-high four steals.
 
DaRyan Williams (Austin, Texas) mustered a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds, which had seven on the offensive glass. He was 9-for-10 at the charity stripe. Sedric Curry Jr. (Baton Rouge, La.) logged a season-high 11 points and grabbed six boards. Demaryon Thornton (Chicago, Ill.) completed the double-digit scoring quintet with 10 points and swiped three steals.
 
After falling behind nine points in the first six minutes of the game, the Trailblazers looked to regain their footing on the home court with a steal by D. Thornton who assisted Crawford for the make and drew the harm. Crawford completed the old fashioned three-point play. After a USW turnover, Crawford had an offensive rebound and putback that sliced the deficit to four (19-15).
 
Thornton made it a one-point game on a triple and Crawford later knotted the game at 19 on the first free throw out of two attempts. Williams grabbed an offensive rebound on Crawford's miss and scored the go-ahead layup to make it 21-19 and cap an 11-0 streak for the first UNTD lead at the midway juncture. Things went back-and-forth for the rest of the half, as UNTD led by as many as four with 38 seconds left on a fastbreak layup by Thornton that was created on a steal by Crawford. The Mustangs got a basket in the last 22 seconds to send the game to halftime with a 36-34 Trailblazers advantage.
 
The teams gained a lead four times each in the second half and forced three ties each in that frame alone. A three immediately traded the lead back to the Mustangs, while Demaryon Thornton made a layup to flip the scoreboard. These exchanges kept up three more times with USW's Jalen Williams getting the last lead change at 41-40 and then a steal and layup by Donovan Holcombe extended the gap by more than a point for the first time through four minutes in the half. Crawford had a highlight steal and dunk on the next play to cut it back to a point. After a trey by Isaac Warhurst, the Mustangs went up by six points (50-44), which was the largest lead of the stanza.
 
Two free throws by Curry Jr., a trey by Williams, and two free throws by Crawford helped ease a 51-51 tie after a 7-1 run with around 11 minutes in regulation. Southwest clung to a slight edge, as Curry Jr. made two free throws and got a layup after Demaryon Thornton made a steal to push the score to 56-53 with eight and a half minutes remaining. A minute later, Grant Hickey from USW hit a go-ahead triple. Crawford split at the free throw line, but then Williams had the next four free throws to keep UNTD ahead. It was never more than a one possession lead for most of the final duration of regulation, as Thornton made a trey to break a 61-61 tie. Free throw splits on two different turns by Crawford inched the lead to the largest of the half for the Trailblazers at five with 4:37 remaining. Things stayed intense, as the five-point margin continued to be the largest spread and with 30 seconds left, Ejay Scroggins swished a trifecta to nip the score to 73-71. The Trailblazers split at the line again making the backend of two. Scroggins buried a game-tying three-pointer with six ticks left on the clock. The Trailblazers could not get a good look on the last play and overtime brewed for the home team.
 
The Trailblazers went 18-for-24 at the free throw line in the second half. They made 32 as a team, which shattered the previous record in a game of 28 from playing Dallas Christian (10/28/23). This is the third straight game a program record has been tied or broken.
 
It took nearly a minute for either team to find the bottom of the net in overtime. Dreyon Thornton scored the first points and then followed a tying shot by USW with a trey. He scored the next five points to open an 81-76 lead.
 
A trifecta by Scroggins cut the score to a single possession at 81-79 and 1:35 left. Scroggins delivered an admirable effort with 31 points up to that moment of the game. However after UNTD missed on the next shot Scroggins would come up empty on two free throws that proved to be the momentum swinger. With a minute left, Crawford found an inside layup to double the lead. The Thornton brothers took splits on their free throws on the next pair of UNTD possessions. The Thornton that's a freshman provided the final dagger on a steal and two free throws by Williams placed the spread at eight points (87-79).
 
Scroggins had the last two points to end with a game-high 33 points. He went 14-of-20 on the floor with three triples, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals.  
The Trailblazers shot 40.3 percent (25-62) from the field, while Southwest was 54.2 percent overall and held a 9-5 edge on made three-pointers. The difference at the free throw line was 32-for-45 for UNT Dallas and 8-for-16 for the Mustangs. The home team led 26-22 on points off turnovers and 18-13 on second chance points. Points in the paint were nearly tied at 38-36 in favor of the Trailblazers, which included both teams scoring 20 and 14 in each half for that variety. The Trailblazers won the battle on the glass, 40-34. The Mustangs committed 27 turnovers compared to 20 by UNTD. The Trailblazers swiped 15 steals compared to eight by the guests.
 
Brooks Anderson (Waco, Texas) made his debut and scored a point to go with two rebounds, an assist, and steal. Julius Morris (Houston, Texas) had three steals in nine minutes and tied Demaryon Thornton with multiple steals behind Crawford's game-high. Keelan Russell (Dallas, Texas) also had multiple steals with two.
 
This is the second time conference-opening win for the Trailblazers men's basketball team, with the other in 2023-24 at Texas Wesleyan (Nov. 30, 2024 – 66-51).
 
UNT Dallas plays an exhibition on Monday at NCAA Division II University of Central Oklahoma. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m.
 
The team will then be off for Thanksgiving and will return to action in December on its first RRAC road swing. The Trailblazers play at Texas A&M-San Antonio on Dec. 4 at 7:30 p.m. and Our Lady of the Lake on Dec. 6 at 3:00 p.m.
 
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