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at Central Christian 2
Damaris Garcia
82
UNT Dallas Trailblazers UNTD 11-13 (8-13)
87
Winner Central Christian (Kan.) CCCK 14-10 (10-10)
UNT Dallas Trailblazers UNTD
11-13 (8-13)
82
Final
87
Central Christian (Kan.) CCCK
14-10 (10-10)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 OT 1 F
UNT Dallas Trailblazers UNTD 28 45 9 82
Central Christian (Kan.) CCCK 44 29 14 87

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | nathanyacovissi

Trailblazers unable to Repeat Buzzer-Beater Success; Fall in OT at Central Christian

MCPHERSON, Kan. – Another double-digit halftime deficit was overcome late in the second half, but University of North Texas at Dallas men's basketball could not get consecutive buzzer-beaters on this road swing and fell in overtime, 87-82, at Central Christian on Saturday. The Trailblazers overcame a 44-28 halftime deficit and relying on their shorthanded, six-man rotation gave the Tigers a battle in a huge conference matchup with post-season implications for the final seeds.
 
The setback drops UNT Dallas to an 11-13 overall record and 8-13 conference mark. Central Christian improves to 14-10 overall and 10-10 in league play with seventh place secure. The season series is split between the teams, as UNTD had to play both matchups at McPherson this season. UNTD also fell to 1-2 in overtime games on the season.
 
Having erased a 16-point deficit at intermission, the Trailblazers created late drama again, as junior Greg Crawford (Houston, Texas) his team up 69-68 with just under two minutes to play in regulation. A pair of free throws by senior Vernon Johnson (DeSoto, Texas) and junior Daneil Sohn (Aledo, Texas) kept the UNTD advantage at three points after their makes.
 
The Tigers got a big three by Chris Whitten with 14 seconds left to tie the game. The Trailblazers used a timeout, but Crawford's mid-range jumper glanced the right side of the rim, and the gritty road squad just missed consecutive buzzer-beater wins.
 
While Central Christian was without three post players that fouled out in the second half, it was able to outdo the Trailblazers in the extra period. Both sides traded narrow leads throughout overtime, but a two by Omari Maulana with 1:05 left flipped the lead a final time. The Trailblazers turned the ball over on the next play and a steal and layup by Jaeden Whitten stretched the gap to 83-80. With about 30 seconds left, the Trailblazers were called for an offensive foul and had to foul to force Central Christian at the line, where the team hit both to seal the back-and-forth thriller.
 
UNT Dallas outscored the Tigers 45-29 in the second half to erase a margin that had reached 19 points prior to intermission. The Trailblazers scored the final three points of the frame and methodically worked on trimming the gap over the next 20 minutes. With the gap ranging from seven points to low double-digits most of the second, UNTD finally pushed through, as senior Damaryon Thornton (Chicago, Ill.) connected on his first three-pointer of the game with under six minutes left to slice the score to 63-57. Thorton caught fire late in the game making three-of-four trifectas. His second sparked an 8-0 swing with Thornton drilling a key trey with four minutes left to counter a seven-point gap and reduce the score to 66-62. Another corner trey a minute and a half later gave the Trailblazers their first lead (67-66) of the game since up 14-13 with 12 minutes in the opening stanza. As mentioned previously, the two sides were playing desperate to win this contest. Thornton had all 14 of his points during the last 11 minutes of play, including a go-ahead triple in overtime that gave the Trailblazers their final lead of the game, 80-79, with 1:20 remaining.
 
This was another testament to the Trailblazers resilience, as they fell behind six points early and after tying things with a three by Johnson and three-point play by Crawford appeared to be ready to battle in this big conference matchup. The Tigers moved ahead 13-8, but a trey by Sohn, free throw by Crawford, and two inside the paint by junior Sergio McClain (Peoria, Ill.) saw a 6-0 scoring swing propel the Trailblazers on top for the first time of the game.
 
Whitten scored the next seven points for Central Christian and the home team erupted for 11 points in a row to build a double-digit lead with seven and a half minutes before the break. The Trailblazers tried to hold the margin around 10 points, but a 13-4 scoring run extended the gap for the Tigers to as many as 19. An old fashioned three-point play by Malachi Farr and trey by Jevarrick Butler capped the surge. The Trailblazers got the final three points of the half, with Sohn scoring a late basket to help give UNTD momentum for a big second half.
 
Crawford secured his 15th double-double and third in the past four games with team-highs in points (23) and rebounds (13). Crawford totaled 49 points and 26 rebounds in two contest at Central Christian this season.
 
McClain had the second-highest scoring game with a season-best 16 points off the bench. He was a point shy of a personal-high during 2023-24 season against Oklahoma Panhandle State (2/24/24).
 
Sohn tossed in 14 points and grabbed six rebounds. Johnson completed a quintet of double-digit scorers with 10 points and also grabbed six boards. He led the team consecutive games in assists and tied a career-high seven. His previous game-high was on December 1, 2022, against Texas Wesleyan.
 
UNTD held a 21-8 advantage on points off turnovers, which included a 16-0 edge in the second half.
 
The Trailblazers matched a season-high eight made three-pointers for consecutive games and have achieved the mark three times in the past five games. They have done so five times this year, twice at Central Christian.
 
UNTD shot 24-for-34 at the free throw line, totaling its second-highest total on the campaign. The team set its highest mark in a SAC contest on January 11 at John Brown with 27, and the team single-game record remains 28 against Dallas Christian on October 28, 2023.  
 
The team also tallied a season-best 19 assists, with senior Jayden Johnson-Blair (Dallas, Texas) dishing six to join Johnson with 13 combined.
 
The Tigers outshot UNTD 46.9 percent compared to 37.3 percent from the floor and were 21-for-23 at the line. They were led by C. Whitten with 19 points and 12 rebounds. He had half of the team's six three-pointers. Maulana totaled 17 points, while Farr and Butler each had 15. Butler gave the Tigers two players with double-doubles as he tied a team-high 12 rebounds. Central Christian snagged 45 rebounds compared to 38 by the Trailblazers and outscored the guests 38-24 on points in the paint.
 
In other league action, Oklahoma Panhandle State survived in overtime at home against Southwestern Christian, 59-57, to break the eighth-place tie with UNTD. The Aggies do have the tiebreaker, so UNTD needs to finish ahead to gain a post-season spot if it came down to the eighth seed.
 
UNT Dallas takes a deserved week of rest before playing its final road game of the regular season at Southwestern Christian on February 15 at 4:00 p.m.
 
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