Men's Basketball

Box Score

MIAMI, Fla. - Battered, bruised, and fighting fatigue, the North Texas men's basketball team dug deep to pull out a 68-66 win over FIU at U.S. Century Bank Arena. The Mean Green (15-8, 8-5), trailing by seven points with less than five minutes left, went on an 11-0 run and was able to hang on for their second straight win.

"I knew it was going to be a hard fought game coming in here, but we wound up fighting through their big run and was able to battle through," said coach Johnny Jones.

Trailing 55-47, FIU (7-19, 4-9) went on a 16-1 run to take a 63-56 lead with 4:50 left in the game. That's when the Mean Green began to rally.

Shannon Shorter started the run with a basket, Eric Tramiel then hit a 3-pointer with the shot clock expiring to tie the game up at 63. The run was capped off by a 3-pointer by Tristan Thompson to give the Mean Green a 67-63 lead with 1:58 left.

FIU had one last rally with a 3-pointer from Stephon Weaver to cut the Mean Green lead to one-point at 67-66 with 47 seconds left. After a defensive stop, FIU had the ball with 20 seconds to play, but a 3-pointer by Phil Gary was off the mark.

George Odufuwa split a pair of free throws with 2.5 seconds left to make it 68-66. FIU had one final chance but their desperation pass was stolen away and the Mean Green locked up the win.

FIU came out firing to start the game, hitting three 3-pointers in the first five minutes. The Mean Green, down 6-1 early, went on an 8-0 run powered by hoops from White and Thompson to take a 9-6 lead with 16:02 left in the first half.

FIU responded to with a 7-1 run to retake the lead at 13-10 with 13:55 left in the half.

The inside game of Odufuwa and  Tramiel started flexing their muscle late in the first half. The duo combined for eight straight points as the Mean Green opened up a 31-27 lead with 3:58 remaining in the half. The pair combined for 16 points in the first half, Tramiel scoring nine and Odufuwa with seven at the break.

FIU kept itself in the game though hitting six first half 3-pointers as the game went to the break tied at 39.

Thompson ended the game with 19 points while Odufuwa had his fifth double-double in six games with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

North Texas continues its two-game road trip with a battle at New Orleans next Thursday night.