Men's Basketball

Box Score

Denton, Texas (1/9/10) - Josh White eclipsed 1,000 career points in the North Texas basketball team's 71-57 win against New Orleans on Saturday afternoon at the Super Pit.

The Mean Green improves to 10-6 overall and 3-3 in the Sun Belt, while New Orleans falls to 6-11 and 1-5 in the conference. NT has won three of the last four meetings with the Privateers but trails in the overall series, 14-8.

White led all scorers with 21 points in the win. It is his most points scored since he posted 21 against the University of Southwest on Dec. 2. White became the 18^th player in North Texas history to tally 1,000 career points. He came into the game needing 12 points to hit 1,000. Following his 21-point performance, he sits in 17^th place with 1,009 points in his Mean Green career.

Tristan Thompson, the Sun Belt scoring leader in conference games, joined White in double figures with 18 points. He posted his eighth straight game in double-figure scoring.

New Orleans kept close to North Texas in the opening 15 minutes, but North Texas slowly pulled away, finishing the first half on a 14-3 run. The Mean Green entered intermission ahead, 36-27. New Orleans held a 24-22 lead with 5:35 left in the first period was held to three points the rest of the way.

Thompson was a big part of the Mean Green's run at the end of the first half. He scored 11 of NT's 17 points in the final six minutes of the first half. Thompson led the Mean Green with 11 points in the first period.

After scoring five points in the first half, White opened the second period with eight points in the first six minutes. North Texas quickly turned a single-digit lead into double-digits, going ahead by 17 points, 55-38, after a Thompson basket at 11:44.

A free-throw by White put North Texas ahead by 20 with 2:41 left in the game. White went 9-for-11 from the charity stripe.

George Odufuwa barely missed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds. He played 18 minutes after getting into foul trouble.

North Texas returns to action on Thursday, Jan. 14 when it travels to Alabama to face Troy.