DENTON, Texas -- North Texas rode a strong defensive effort that saw UTSA men's basketball miss 17 of its first 20 shots, allowing the Mean Green to win an eighth consecutive game, 69-43, on Saturday evening at the Super Pit.
UTSA (8-16, 1-10 Conference USA) couldn't overcome the sluggish offensive start and the strong defensive effort of North Texas (16-4, 9-1 C-USA), who won its eighth straight game and improved to a league-leading 9-1.
The Mean Green opened the game hot, building double-digit lead 12 minutes into the game, featuring 12 of their first 13 points coming in the paint as the Roadrunners missed nine of their first 11 shots and 17 of their first 20 efforts. UNT shot 60 percent in the first half – compared to UTSA's 20 percent on five made shots – to build a 34-17 lead, on the strength of a 21-8 run to close, at the break.
The Roadrunners built some momentum to open the second half, cutting the lead to 13 with 12:26 left but the Mean Green were able to regain their footing and push the lead to 23 with eight minutes left to secure the win.
A native of La Marque, Texas, Jordan Ivy-Curry led UTSA in scoring for the seventh time on the year, totaling 15 points, including a pair of triples. He had 12 of his points in the second half and shot 5 of 17 in the game.
Jacob Germany totaled six points and four rebounds. Dhieu Deing finished with nine points and four rebounds. Isaiah Addo-Ankrah sank a pair of 3-pointers.
The Roadrunners were held to a 27.7 shooting percentage on 13 of 47 shooting and 5 of 21 from deep. North Texas shot 54.8 percent. UNT won the battle of the boards, 32-31 and North Texas owned a 34-14 advantage in points in the paint and an 11-3 mark in assists.
The Mean Green were led by a 15-point outing from Abou Ousmane and 14 points from Tylor Perry.
UTSA will return to action on Monday, traveling to face Middle Tennessee at 6 p.m. on CUSA TV and Ticket 760 AM.
The Mean Green opened the scoring with buckets from Ousmane and Thomas Bell III before Erik Czumbel finished a tough bucket on a drive to the rim. Ousmane took the lead to 7-2 with an and-1 and Deing got two of the three back with a pair at the line.
Bell and Germany traded two points and Ousmane pushed the lead to 11-6, giving him seven of UNT's first 11 points. Ivy-Curry then splashed a 3-pointer from the top of the key to take the UNT lead to 11-9 with 11:42 left in the first.
The Mean Green made their fourth straight shot and spurted off on a 6-0 run to build a 17-9 lead before Deing splashed a wing 3-pointer. Mardrez McBride immediately got the three points back with a transition triple and hit two at the line for a 10-point margin.
Perry and Aaron Scott got on the board for a 14-point lead, part of a 9-0 run. Addo-Ankrah splashed his first 3-pointer to snap the run. Scott got a pair back at the charity stripe and Phoenix Ford got on the board to cut the lead to 28-17 before Perry sank a triple for a 31-17 lead with a minute left in the period. Perry sank a buzzer beater to end the half with a 34-17 lead. UNT shot 60 percent in the half and UTSA was held to a 20 percent clip.
Ivy-Curry scored UTSA's first seven points to open the second half, all on floaters, to cut the lead to 39-24. The Roadrunners scored 13 of the first 22 points in the second half, including eight from Ivy-Curry, and narrowed the lead to 43-30 with 12 minutes left. A JJ Murray 3-pointer grew the lead to 17, a margin UTSA couldn't overcome, seeing it grow to 23 at 57-34 with five minutes left.
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