4 days Ago By By Brett Vito Staff Writer
Basketball season is here. Subscribe to the DRC for $1 a month over the next six months to follow all that transpires with North Texas and area high schools. Final: McNeese State 68, North Texas 61 Where UNT stands: The Mean Green fell to 3-1 following their first loss of the season in a showdown between two of the top teams that compete outside the power conferences in the country.
Now what?: UNT will return home to face Texas Wesleyan on Thursday. Star of the game: Brenen Lorient came off the bench to score a team-high 12 points for UNT. Lorient hit all six of his free throws, pulled down three rebounds and handed out two assists.
Lorient helped UNT battle a physical McNeese team in the paint and finish with a 37-33 edge in rebounds. Say what?: “We had some really bad possessions down the stretch. We coupled that with the inability to play defense without fouling.
Ultimately that was the difference in the game.” — Ross Hodge, UNT coach on the Mean Green’s loss to MeNeese. Our take: UNT tackled a monumental challenge on Monday in its showdown with McNeese.
McNeese won the Southland Conference regular season and tournament titles a year ago when the Cowboys won 30 games on their way to the NCAA Tournament. UNT came into the night aiming to snap McNeese’s 19-game home court winning streak and build on a win at Minnesota. The Mean Green looked like they might pull it off when Johnathan Massie hit a jumper to put UNT up 52-45 with 7:18 left.
McNeese answered with a 7-0 run to get back into the game. UNT took a 58-57 lead with 3:31 left on a pair of Lorient free throws. The Mean Green didn’t score again until 23 seconds remained.
McNeese had hit nine free throws by that point and pulled away. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request.
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