by BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – For the seventh straight year the UNT men’s basketball team won its opening conference tournament game as they defeated Florida Atlantic late Thursday night, 74-70, in the second round of the American Championship at Legacy Arena.
Sophomore Je’Shawn Stevenson scored a game-high 24 points, his 12th 20-point game of the year, and Buddy Hammer Jr. scored a career high 12 points and matched his career high with eight rebounds to lead the Mean Green to the win over the seventh-seeded Owls.
“Give a ton of credit to FAU they pushed us to the limit,” said North Texas head coach Daniyal Robinson. “I loved the way our guys responded to (FAU’s) good start, and we finished the half great. And then our guys being able to play with a level of physicality and multiple people stepping up was big down the stretch.”
After a back and forth start to the game UNT (19-13) led for the final 25 minutes of the contest growing its lead to as many as 11 points in the second half. UNT’s defense forced Florida Atlantic (18-15) into 13 turnovers, which the Mean Green scored 13 points off of.
Junior point guard David Terrell Jr. scored 11 points and had seven assists in the win. In the first half he became just the second player in program history to score 400 points and have 150 assists in a single season. Terrell Jr. was one of three North Texas players to score in double figures Thursday night.
North Texas will have a quick turnaround as they’ll take on the No. 3 seed Tulsa Friday in the quarterfinal round. The game is scheduled to tip off at 2 p.m. CT from Legacy Arena. It will be broadcast on ESPN2 and the Mean Green Sports Network, presented by Learfield on KHYI 95.3 FM. UNT and Tulsa split their two games during the regular season.
