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UNT Dallas

Photo Recap at LCU
67
Winner UNT Dallas UNTD 6-9, 5-6
59
Louisiana Christian LCU 4-12, 2-8
Winner
UNT Dallas UNTD
6-9, 5-6
67
Final
59
Louisiana Christian LCU
4-12, 2-8
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
UNT Dallas UNTD 44 23 67
Louisiana Christian LCU 29 30 59

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | nathanyacovissi

Trailblazers defeat LCU after Monster First Half

PINEVILLE, La. – A big first half lifted University of North Texas at Dallas men's basketball over Louisiana Christian University on Thursday night. A 44-point first half pushed the Trailblazers to a 15-point halftime lead.
 
It was a tale of two halves, as turnovers prevented an otherwise strong shooting night for UNT Dallas to take over the game. The Wildcats made a run in the second half to pull within four, but key possessions allowed the Trailblazers to grind out a victory and improve to 3-1 in 2026. In all victories, the Trailblazers scored at least 40 points in the opening 20 minutes.
 
The win improves UNT Dallas to 6-9 on the season and 5-6 in the RRAC, while the Wildcats dropped to 4-12 and 2-8 in the league.
 
Greg Crawford (Houston, Texas) notched his fifth double-double of the campaign and second in the past three games. Crawford went for team-highs with 12 points and 17 rebounds. His total on the glass matched the previous school record but was shattered by the forward two games ago versus Texas College with 23.
 
Another Houston native on the squad, Jonathan Joseph, reached double figures with a season-high 11 points in his third game with UNTD this season. He had a team-high nine points in the opening half, which was a driving force to the surge to a double-digit lead during that frame.
 
DaRyan Williams (Austin, Texas) picked up a career-high 15 rebounds and added nine points, marking him shy of his third double-double. Eli Taylor (Elizabeth, N.J.) also had nine points and three assists with Williams.


 
The Trailblazers shot 49 percent (25-51) with six three-pointers for the game. Despite staying north of 40 percent in each half, the team's 14 second half turnovers skewed the shot attempts to 17 for the guests as opposed to 35 attempts for LCU. The Trailblazers shot 11-for-18 at the free throw line for the game, turned the ball over 21 times overall, had 48 boards, 16 assists, five blocks, and six steals. The Trailblazers tallied 35 points off the bench points. This included 29 in the opening half. UNT Dallas was only favored in points in the paint with a 36-24 edge.
 
The Wildcats held advantages in second chance points (14-12), points off turnovers (16-10), and fastbreak points (9-6). They shot 34.3 percent (23-67) with five three-pointers, and 8-for-10 at the free throw line.
 
A trio of LCU players reached double figures led by Justice Kelly with 15 points. He hauled down 11 boards for a double-double. Bryce Weinmunson had 14 points and Corey Lombard chipped in 12.
 
It was a slow start offensively on both sides, as the Wildcats pushed ahead 6-2 in the first three minutes. A free throw by Crawford over a minute later was the only score until a Weinmunson layup opened the largest Wildcat advantage of the game for the first time (8-3). Each time UNTD closed the gap a bit, the Wildcats answered to go up by five points several occasions for the next few minutes. A trey by Joseph closed the score to 15-13 eight minutes past. Two more answers by JT Curry (Baton Rouge, La.) kept Louisiana Christian from expanding on a greater lead than five.
 
The latter Curry basket sparked six straight points with the next pair of field goals from Joseph, which included a go-ahead dunk with about eight minutes remaining. LCU countered with a basket, but then it was the Keylyn Sanders (Paris, Texas) show with the game's next eight points to catapult the Trailblazers on top the rest of the way. Back-to-back triples sent them up 27-24 and a steal by Taylor led a fastbreak basket assisted by Williams to match the largest margin. Taylor went coast-to-coast to cap a 7-0 run with 4:40 left. A little over a minute later, Williams buried a trey and Crawford got the Trailblazers first double-digit lead with a basket (35-25) and three minutes remaining.
 
The Thornton brothers went 3-of-3 from downtown to account for the next nine points in the final few minutes. Dreyon Thornton (Chicago, Ill.) swished the first one before his brother Demaryon Thornton (Chicago, Ill.) went back-to-back to cap the offensive surge at a 44-27 lead. Two points at the end of the stanza closed a 44-29 score. The Trailblazers nine-point barrage headlined a 13-0 run and an overarching 23-5 run until the final points of the period. LCU etched two field goals in the last five and a half minutes of the first half.
 
UNT Dallas grew its largest advantage of the game to 18 points on multiple moments in the second half, but around the midway point saw the Wildcats begin clawing back. A triple by Kelly nipped the deficit to single-digits (53-44). LCU kept shrinking the gap until getting within four points (60-56) with 3:39 remaining.
 
The younger Thornton found his older brother for an inside jumper with 3:19 left stretching the lead to a two-possession game. The Wildcats got another layup by Corey Lombard Jr. with 1:46 remaining and four-point separation. The Trailblazers went 5-for-6 on their last free throws in the closing seconds to put the triumph away.
 
UNT Dallas remains in Louisiana for another RRAC meeting across the Red River at Louisiana State University at Alexandria. Tip-off is at 3:00 p.m. after the women's game.
 
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