DENTON – North Texas made an uncharacteristic 12 3-pointers and UTSA couldn't find its rhythm on the offensive end as the Mean Green defeated the Roadrunners 80-62 Thursday night in Conference USA action at The Super Pit.
Roosevelt Smart led all scorers with a game-high 22 points on 8 of 11 shooting, including four threes. DJ Draper added 18 with all six of his makes coming from long-range, while Shane Temara and A.J. Lawson each totaled 12 for the Mean Green.
Deon Lyle paced the Roadrunners with 15 points, which counted three 3-pointers for the 14th time this season. Byron Frohnen, George Willborn IIII and Keaton Wallace each added 10.
The win improved North Texas to 15-15 overall (8-9 C-USA) and halted a five-game losing skid. UTSA fell to 17-13 on the season and 10-7 in league play. By virtue of UAB's win over Marshall, the Roadrunners can still capture the No. 4 four seed and a first-round bye in the C-USA Championship with a win on Saturday and a Marshall loss at Middle Tennessee.
North Texas shot 55 percent for the game (50 percent from three) and outrebounded UTSA 33-32. The Roadrunners made 36 percent of their attempts (39 percent from deep) and used their 13 offensive rebounds to produce 16 second-chance points.
Lyle's third three of the game opened the second half's scoring, but North Texas was unfazed as Temara counted two at the free-throw line and Smart made 3-pointers on four of the next five possessions to expand the Mean Green's eight-point halftime lead to 21 points at 51-30 with 14:51 to play.
Willborn III scored UTSA's next nine points, but North Texas nullified the effort with two Draper threes and an inside score by Woolridge to maintain its 20-point edge at 59-39 with at the under-12 timeout.
UTSA got as close as 16 after a floater and 3-pointer by Keaton Wallace; however, Draper immediately halted any Roadrunner momentum with his sixth 3-pointer of the game. North Texas closed the game outscoring the Roadrunners by two for the 80-62 final.
North Texas led by as many as six in the early stages of the opening half before the Roadrunners trimmed the Mean Green advantage to 24-23 at the 4:45 mark via a Frohnen floater. However, Temara then connected on a three and Draper followed with triples on consecutive possessions to push North Texas ahead 33-23 and force a UTSA timeout. Austin Karrer answered with a 3-pointer of his own and Giovanni De Nicolao made one at the line as UTSA totaled four of the half's final six points to trim the Mean Green lead to 35-27 at the intermission.
North Texas outshot the Roadrunners 54 percent (15 of 28) to 36 percent (10 of 28).
Up next
UTSA closes the regular season with a road contest at Rice. Tipoff between the Roadrunners and Owls is set for 7 p.m. at Tudor Fieldhouse and will be broadcast nationally via the WatchESPN platform.
