Skip To Main Content

UNT Dallas

Photo Recap vs. TAMUTX
64
Winner Texas A&M Texarkana TEXAS A& 16-7, 13-5
57
UNT Dallas UNT DALL 9-13, 8-10
Winner
Texas A&M Texarkana TEXAS A&
16-7, 13-5
64
Final
57
UNT Dallas UNT DALL
9-13, 8-10
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Texas A&M Texarkana TEXAS A& 26 38 64
UNT Dallas UNT DALL 27 30 57

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | nathanyacovissi

Tight Game goes Eagles way after Late Surge drops UNTD Men's Hoops on Saturday

CEDAR HILL, Texas – A back-and-forth game resulted in Texas A&M-Texarkana gaining the last momentum of an eventual 64-57 result over University of North Texas at Dallas men's basketball on Saturday afternoon at Trinity Leadership Public School. The Trailblazers battled blow-for-blow with a top three Red River Athletic Conference opponent and carried a 27-26 halftime advantage. The final 5:11 minutes belonged to the visiting Eagles, as a two-point game (53-51) turned to an 11-6 scoring stretch until the final horn. The Eagles scored seven straight points to grab a nine-point lead and ride the surge to the end.
 
UNT Dallas dropped two straight games to top teams in the Red River Athletic Conference after a busy three-game home stand on the week. The Trailblazers fell to 9-13 overall and 8-10 in conference play. TAMUTX improved to 16-7 overall and 13-5 to tie for third place in the league.
 
Orion Virden (Pine Bluff, Ark.) led the Trailblazers with his highest scoring performance with the squad with 15 points. He was 6-of-10 with a pair of three-pointers.
 
Greg Crawford (Houston, Texas) neared a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds, while matching a team-high four assists.
 
DaRyan Williams (Austin, Texas) also claimed 11 points with six rebounds. Eli Taylor (Elizabeth, N.J.) completed a quartet of players in double-digits with 10 points and tied a team-high four assists.
 
The Trailblazers went 18-of-52 (34.6 percent) from the field and dropped six three-pointers. They were 15-for-21 from the free throw line. UNT Dallas compiled 37 rebounds, 12 assists, 15 turnovers, two blocks, and three steals.
 
The Eagles shot 33.9 percent (20-59) from the field and had five three-pointers. They went 19-for-28 from the free throw line. TAMUTX logged 39 rebounds, 10 assists, two blocks, and six steals. The Eagles protected the ball with nine turnovers.
 
Jarren Cook led a quartet of double-digit scorers from the Eagles with 15 points. Jakari Livingston scored 13 bench points, while Deavaunta Williams chipped in 12. Payton Chism added 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
 
The Trailblazers did hold a 9-6 advantage on second chance points. Otherwise, these analytical categories favored the guests with a 16-8 edge on points off turnovers, 26-18 on points in paint, and 11-5 on fast break points. The Trailblazers also held a 28-15 advantage on bench points.
 
It was a slow start to the game, as the first points clicked at 17:20 on a three-pointer by the Eagles' Cook. He was sizzling offensively among all players as Cook scored the first eight points through 4:05. UNTD's Williams found the bottom of the net five and a half minutes into regulation with a trifecta of his own. Free throws by Taylor and Crawford closed the gap to 8-6 through 5:35 in the game.
 
After a brief run pushed the Eagles back to an eight-point lead (14-6), Virden buried an important three-pointer that inspired the senior's impressive display. In his fifth game of the season, Virden scored the next two UNT Dallas field goals to keep his team within two possessions in the contest.
 
The Trailblazers answered six-point deficit in the final six minutes with an eight-point boost that included consecutive field goals by Williams and a go-ahead triple by Taylor to open a 21-19 lead with four minutes before intermission. TAMUTX leveled the score and took a one-point lead, but Taylor made a three-point play the old-fashioned way to flip the lead. Virden followed with a three-point play of his own to push a 27-24 lead with one minute left. The Eagles closed the frame with a pair of free throws to make it a one-point difference.
 
Five points out of the first seven went towards the Trailblazers to open the second half. This included Taylor kicking a fastbreak three-pointer to Demaryon Thornton (Chicago, Ill.) to give the home team a quick four-point lead (32-28). The Eagles soared back with a steal and three-pointer by Chism to swing the pendulum towards the opposition with what would eventually be seven points in a row.
 
A layup by Virden knotted the score at 35 just past the five-and-a-half-minute mark. The next several minutes saw TAMUTX clinch a slight advantage that wavered by fewer than four points. Two triples by Thornton and Virdon helped keep the excitement for the Trailblazers with the score reflecting 45-all after the team's leading scorers second trey.
 
Still, the Trailblazers were unable to get over the hump and never led again after the early advantage mentioned earlier in the second half. Knotting the score at 45, the Eagles went up on the next few plays by two field goals. Williams countered with two free throws and added a layup with 6:19 to go to keep UNT Dallas within two points. Crawford's pair of free throws at 5:31 were the final counter hit to keep the score within two points at 53-51.
 
Texas A&M-Texarkana went on a big run at the end as mentioned earlier and would lead by as many as 10 points with 57 seconds left (64-54). Crawford split at the line and after another miss by the Eagles, Anthony Hunter (Fort Worth, Texas) rounded out the scoring with a quick layup.
 
While the Trailblazers showed much stronger grit in this game compared to Thursday's battle with a nationally ranked team, the result dampens what has been a strong second half season for UNTD heading to the last two weeks of the campaign.
 
UNT Dallas plays its final regular season road games at Jarvis Christian (2/12 at 7:30 p.m.) and Texas College (2/14 at 3:00 p.m.).
 
Print Friendly Version