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UNT Dallas

UNT Dallas
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UNTD MBB vs. JBU
54
John Brown JOHN BRO 18-10, 16-8
60
Winner UNT Dallas UNT DALL 13-14, 10-14
John Brown JOHN BRO
18-10, 16-8
54
Final
60
UNT Dallas UNT DALL
13-14, 10-14
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
John Brown JOHN BRO 18 36 54
UNT Dallas UNT DALL 34 26 60

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | nathanyacovissi

Got the Win and In! UNT Dallas MBB holds on against John Brown to Clinch 8th Seed

DALLAS – University of North Texas at Dallas men's basketball handled business on Monday night at Ellis Davis Field House to ensure it kept its season alive for at least one more game, as it clinched the eighth and final spot of the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament with a 60-54 victory over John Brown.
 
The Trailblazers erupted in the first half with a 34-16 lead at break. They withstood several runs by the Golden Eagles in the second half and ended up being outscored by 10 during that duration. With a jumper by JBU's Trae Oetting to cut the score to 57-54 with 28 seconds left, the Trailblazers protected the ball and junior Daniel Sohn (Aledo, Texas) iced the game away. He made the front-end of two free throws to extend the lead to four points. After a missed jumper by the Golden Eagles, Sohn got a fastbreak dunk to electrify the UNTD faithful and home bench as they won consecutive home games for the first time this season and ended the year with 10 conference wins.
 
UNT Dallas improves to 13-14 overall on the season and set a new program record. It was a season of turbulence, as the Trailblazers posted their best start to the campaign with a 3-0 record and did not slip beneath .500 until 15 games in the season and in January of 2025 after a loss at College of the Ozarks. That loss was part of a four-game losing streak. There were numerous rallies late for improbable wins, while also dropping some tight ones that had a missing play or seeing large leads get squandered. The roster was thin, as most nights six or seven players were regularly available.
 
The 10 conference wins also were an all-time best in the SAC, as the Trailblazers qualified for their second tournament in four seasons of affiliation. They last made the tournament in their inaugural season, 2021-22 and were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Mid-America Christian. UNTD was selected 10th in the SAC Preseason Poll with 55 points.
 
UNTD will play as the No. 8 seed and travel nearby to No. 1 seed and SAC Regular Season Champion, Nelson University. The game is slated for 7:00 p.m. on Thursday in Waxahachie, Texas.
 
2025 SAC Men's Basketball Championships
 
John Brown finishes the regular season with an 18-10 record and 16-8 conference record to tie for fourth place. The Golden Eagles will be the No. 5 seed and play at No. 4 seed Wayland Baptist in the SAC Quarterfinals.  

Junior Greg Crawford (Houston, Texas) led all players with 21 points and 12 rebounds. He becomes the first player in program history to register double-digits in scoring in every contest, as he played in 27 of them. The conference leader in rebounding added another double-digit output to give him 17 double-doubles on the campaign. He was 11-for-13 at the free throw line, which gave him 22-for-24 combined in the two contests against the Golden Eagles this season.
 
Senior Vernon Johnson (DeSoto, Texas) was clutch with 11 points and eight rebounds. The conference leader swiped four more steals and had a pair of assists.

Senior Demaryon Thornton (Chicago, Ill.) also had 11 points, with a trio of three-pointers that all seemed to come in critical spots. The Trailblazers had five total as a team with 19 attempts.
 
Sohn completed a quartet of double-digit scorers with 10 points.
 
Senior Jayden Johnson-Blair (Dallas, Texas) matched his single-game record for assists with nine. He joined his graduating teammate Johnson by playing all 40 minutes in their final contest at Ellis Davis Field House. It will not be their final game with UNTD, however.
 
The Trailblazers won the battle on points in the paint, 30-24, and fastbreak points, 13-10.  
 
Like Saturday's Senior Day win, the Trailblazers got off to a hot start and fed off their aggressive play. Soh scored two of the first three baskets to help lead to a 6-0 advantage. John Brown got on the board and sliced the deficit in half with a three, but Crawford scored the next six points including four free throws to push UNTD out to a 12-3 start through five minutes. Each side traded baskets, with the margin not reaching past nine, yet.
 
At 8:18 left in the first, JBU scored a layup on the fastbreak to pull within five points (14-9). Thornton drilled one of his timely trifectas on the next possession to keep it a three-possession lead. The final five minutes saw the Trailblazers surge to their big halftime gap. In a five-point game, Johnson-Blair scored a jumper, and Johnson swiped a steal to lead to a fastbreak layup. Johnson later split at the line to give UNTD its first double-digit lead of the game (24-14) with three to play in the stanza. Thornton and Johnson-Blair sank consecutive three's and opened a 16-point lead with just over two minutes to complete. A pair of free throws by Crawford gave the Trailblazers their largest lead of the game (32-14) by 18.
 
The Golden Eagles scored the next two baskets and Crawford added two more free throws to complete the 16-point advantage for UNTD at halftime. Crawford had 11 points during the frame and Thornton etched eight points.
 
John Brown hit six of its eight trifectas in the second half to highlight a higher scoring half, as the road team came out strong with eight straight points to break the deficit in half.
 
The veteran of the program, Johnson, had a layup on the fastbreak almost four minutes into the half for the first UNTD points. With 14 minutes left, the Golden Eagles narrowed the gap to six (36-30) and Thornton buried his only triple and field goal of the half, but it came at a good time. Johnson later scored an old fashioned three-point play to extend the margin to 12 points. A Crawford tip-in, three by Sohn, and then a Sohn steal that found Johnson for a breakaway dunk with nine minutes to play got the fun vibes flowing with a 49-32 lead.
 
John Brown did not go away quietly, as two three-pointers by Oetting and Drew Miller quickly made it an 11-point spread a minute later.
 
The Trailblazers answered back, with a highlight three-point play by Crawford to stretch the edge to 14 (54-40) with five and a half minutes before the horn.
 
Miller stroked a three and was fouled for the rare four-point play opportunity on the next play. He converted and after a missed trey by UNTD, Miller kept his second half sharp shooting going with another triple to make it a seven-point difference (54-47) with under four and a half to play.
 
Miller tallied 13 of his team-leading 15 points in the second half. He also had nine boards for a near double-double. Oetting and Elijah Lawrence each scored 11 points. The Golden Eagles held a 15-6 edge on points off turnovers with all 15 in the second. They also dominated second chance points, 14-4, with a 11-2 edge in the final 20 minutes.
 
Crawford split at the line a minute later to put the score at 55-47. The first free throw went in, but the team leader at getting to line was off on the second attempt. He had scored 21 straight free throws in every attempt between the two JBU matchups at that juncture.
 
The Golden Eagles scored the next three points to create a five-point deficit (55-50) with two and a half minutes remaining. Neither side could find the bottom of the net until 1:05 was left and Crawford got fouled. He had another rare miss by being off on the first attempt. He made the second to make it a six-point game and 1:05 left. After a missed trey by JBU, Lukas Gabani had a good offensive tip-in to close the score difference by four (56-52) with 54 ticks on the clock. Jonson made one-of-two free throws and JBU countered with an inside jumper by Oetting. Needing a clutch stop, the Trailblazers went up by four and a missed jumper led to Johnson climbing up for his season-high eighth rebound and secured his second trip to the SAC Tournament. He is the only Trailblazer to have played that year.
 
He hopes for a final chance to make a run with his teammates this week as the team began its must-win streak with two at home.
 
 
 
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