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UNT Dallas

Photo Recap MBB at JCU
72
Winner UNT Dallas TRAILB~1 10-13 (9-10)
65
Jarvis Christian JARVIS~1 10-14 (6-13)
Winner
UNT Dallas TRAILB~1
10-13 (9-10)
72
Final
65
Jarvis Christian JARVIS~1
10-14 (6-13)
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
UNT Dallas TRAILB~1 29 43 72
Jarvis Christian JARVIS~1 28 37 65

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | nathanyacovissi

Crawford and Virden Lead Charge for Trailblazers in Pivotal Win at Jarvis Christian

HAWKINS, Texas – A strong second half led by Greg Crawford (Houston, Texas) and Orion Virden (Houston, Texas) lifted University of North Texas at Dallas men's basketball to an important 72-65 victory over Jarvis Christian University on Thursday. Up one point at halftime, the Trailblazers controlled the tempo most of the second half and were able to get double-digit point totals by the team's leading scorers to secure a regular season split over the Bulldogs.
 
UNT Dallas improved to 10-13 overall and 9-10 on the season as it gained a game on Jarvis Christian in the Red River Athletic Conference standings. The Bulldogs fall to 10-14 overall and 6-13 in conference.
 


Crawford returned to form after several pedestrian stats for his standards by matching a career-high 26 points and claiming his eighth double-double on the campaign with 13 rebounds. In 29 minutes from the bench, Crawford shot 9-of-12 from the field and 8-for-13 at the free throw line, adding two blocks, three assists, and steal. His 18 points in the second half led the Trailblazers and many occurred during pivotal junctures that propelled the road team out to a manageable margin down the stretch.
 
Virden surpassed his season-high in total points for the Trailblazers on consecutive games with 16 points, as he dialed in four three-pointers.
 
Demaryon Thornton (Chicago, Ill.) completed the top trio of scorers with 12 points, as he made a pair of three-pointers and added three boards and two assists.
 


Eli Taylor (Elizabeth, N.J.) scored nine points and collected four boards and assists (team-high). Taylor also swiped a personal-best five steals, which accounted for over half of UNTD's eight.
 
Anthony Hunter (Fort Worth, Texas) snatched a season-high seven rebounds, as the team came up with a 46-42 advantage.
 
The Trailblazers shot 43.1 percent (25-58) from the floor with seven three-pointers and were 15-for-26 from the free throw line. They did shoot north of 50 percent in the second half at a 51.6-clip.
 
The Trailblazers led 36-28 on points in the paint, but otherwise it was Jarvis Christian that held advantages in points off turnovers (18-11), second chance points (19-16), and fastbreak points (10-6).
 
The Bulldogs had two players with 20 points, as Keon Gill and Erin Wright led the team with those totals. Mark Wise chipped in 10 points and eight boards, while DeShon Shorter claimed 10.
 
Jarvis Christian shot 33.3 percent (22-66) from the field with five three-pointers, and 16-for-24 at the free throw line. The team did swipe nine steals and committed nine turnovers compared to UNTD's 15 miscues.
 
It was a 5-0 start for the Bulldogs, as Demaryon Thornton buried a three-pointer around two minutes in to get the Trailblazers on the board. Down 9-3 through the first segment of the game, Thornton had a layup at 15:54 to end the skid and contribute all points for UNTD at that moment. Hunter found a cutting Crawford for the big slam finish and after Crawford split at the line to pull within one; a triple by Virden gave the Trailblazers their first lead of the game (11-9) to cap an 8-0 swing with13:46 remaining until half.
 
The Bulldogs answered with two free throws, as they went over five minutes without a field goal either, and an old fashioned three-point play by Crawford boosted UNTD back on top 14-11. The Bulldogs countered with the next six points including four free throws to have the lead exchange sides at 19-14 just past the midway point. Taylor tickled the twine for three and layups by Keylyn Sanders (Paris, Texas) and Dreyon Thornton (Chicago, Ill.) knotted the game at 21 with six and a half remining. A free throw by DaRyan Williams (Austin, Texas) gave UNTD a 22-21 lead, but JCU answered with three free throws to swing up 24-22 as the success rate was impacting both sides at this moment.
UNTD scored the next seven points to lead into intermission, as Crawford scored a tying layup and Taylor followed with a go-ahead layup. The Bulldogs split at the line and Virden scored the final Trailblazers' field goal in the last two minutes with a trey.
 
Jarvis Christian cut into the deficit with a three-point play that included a big dunk by Erin Wright with 31 seconds left. It left UNT Dallas up 29-28 at halftime.
 
While the first meeting saw UNT Dallas claw back from a deep deficit just to be defeated by a late basket that resulted in a two-point setback at home last month, the Trailblazers wanted to avoid a similar tight game on Thursday with so many implications riding.
 
Williams and Taylor got the second half moving with the Trailblazers defense clamping down to keep JCU off the board for over two and a half minutes. The Bulldogs climbed within a point (33-32) before Virden drained a trey to spark seven points over the next four UNTD possessions. That scoring streak reached nine as the Trailblazers went up by double figures for the first time of the game on a pair of Crawford free throws. Crawford also had a dunk during this run and then a trey by Dem. Thornton boosted the score to 47-34 with 12:13 left.
 
The next three minutes saw Jarvis Christian pull within four points (49-43) after a big run that featured a pair of Erin Wright three-pointers. His latest made it a four-point game with over nine minutes still to go. Crawford and Virden teamed up with another seven-point streak as Crawford got a layup and Virden hit a three and followed a Taylor steal on a layup that Crawford shared for the assist. This ballooned the lead back to double digits at 11 (54-43) with 7:45 remaining.
 
With under five minutes in the game, the Bulldogs produced another scoring stretch that closed the gap to within four again on two occasions. With a 58-54 showing, Crawford grabbed an offensive rebound and had a good layup that counted with the foul. His extra free throw was good to make it a seven-point game. Crawford followed with a layup to give him a streak of nine Trailblazer points and extend the lead to eight (65-57) with 2:21 remaining. Virden came in with a layup to cap a 9-3 run and give the guests a 10-point lead again. With an eight-point gap and 46 seconds left on the time, Taylor picked up a steal and scored on a fastbreak layup. Dem. Thornton was able to make his free throws to keep enough distance as the Bulldogs made two final threes to wrap up the final score.
 
This was the team's fourth road win of the season and first time to win consecutive away games.
 
UNT Dallas wraps up the regular season road portion of its schedule at Texas College on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
 
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