North Texas News

Mean Green Comeback To Win Eighth Straight

The North Texas men's basketball team overcame a 20-2 run by UTEP to beat the Miners in El Paso, 80-72 in overtime Saturday.

With the win, the Mean Green win their eighth straight game and tie the program record for regular season wins (23).

"We have so much respect for how hard UTEP plays," said head coach Grant McCasland. "We couldn't grab a rebound in the second half and that let them go on a run but to respond from that and to show that sort of resilience, it shows a lot about this group."

After falling behind by 11 points with 10 minutes left in regulation, UNT (23-5, 14-3) made nine straight field goals to send the game into overtime and then opened the five-minute overtime period with two straight makes to take the lead. North Texas senior guard Tylor Perry scored eight points in the final four minutes of regulation as he finished with a game-high 20 points. He nailed a crucial 3-pointer with 18 seconds left and the shot clock expiring.

"Once we settled in our grit and togetherness showed," McCasland said. "(Perry) is a winner, times a million. Dude is a winner. He was so remarkable down the stretch."

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It wasn't just Perry, though, as Kai Huntsberry settled the ship and brought the Mean Green back into striking distance. Huntsberry, who led UNT in scoring for most of the 45-minute game, finished with 19 points and was an efficient 7-of-11 from the floor.

Rubin Jones, Moulaye Sissoko and Matthew Stone also contributed to the comeback and strong overtime success. The trio combined for 26 points, most of which came in the second half and overtime. Stone's 10 points sets a career-high.

UTEP (12-15, 5-11) entered Saturday with the nation's lowest free throw percentage. The Mean Green sent the Miners to the free throw line probably way more than McCasland would have liked and UTEP stepped up big as they made 26 of its 32 attempts.

UNT entered Saturday as the nation's best road team over the last two seasons. With the win at the Don Haskins Center the Mean Green have now won 18 of their last 21 road contests.

Next up, North Texas plays its final road game of the regular season as they travel to Charlotte on Thursday to face the 49ers at 6 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and the Mean Green Sports Network, presented by Learfield.

Original source can be found here