DRC article on TCU game loss

[OldTimer]

Basketball: UNT loses chance late

Late mistakes cost Mean Green shot at first road win

09:01 AM CST on Sunday, December 14, 2003

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

FORT WORTH — North Texas was right where it wanted to be in the waning moments of its game against TCU on Saturday night.

UNT was in the game with a chance to win on the road.

The situation was an unusual one for the Mean Green, which entered the game having lost both of its games away from the Super Pit this season by double figures. Unfortunately for the Mean Green, the result was the same in a 62-58 loss at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.

DRC/Hiroyuki Komae

Texas Christian forward Chudi Chinweze, left, defends North Texas forward Ron Harris in the first half at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum in Fort Worth on Saturday. The Mean Green fell to the Horned Frogs, 62-58, in non-conference action.

TCU (3-5) went on a 5-0 run in the final minutes of the game and made just enough plays to pull out the win.

"They made some shots late in the game and we missed some open looks," UNT coach Johnny Jones said. "It was almost like the last team with the basketball was going to win."

TCU made the key plays it needed after UNT (3-3) tied the scored at 52 on a put-back by sophomore forward Ty Thomas with 5:01 left.

The Horned Frogs responded with their run and took a 57-52 lead. The Mean Green missed three 3-point shots during TCU’s spurt.

"We were right with them in the end," UNT junior guard Leonard Hopkins said. "They came down and made some big shots. We had some open looks, but couldn’t get anything to fall."

UNT regained its offensive rhythm in time to cut TCU’s lead to one point twice in the final minutes, but couldn’t pull ahead.

Senior guard Jerome Rogers led UNT with 15 points, while Hopkins added 11, despite hitting just 3-of-16 shots from the field.

Chudi Chinweze scored 18 points and hit three critical free throws in the final minute to ice the game for TCU.

Corey Santee added 12 points for Horned Frogs, while Marcus Shropshire added 11.

The game was tight throughout with the lead changing hands 20 times before TCU made its key run late in the game to pull away for the win.

"We controlled the game in the final minutes," Chinweze said. "We made a few free throws and pulled down some big rebounds."

Chinweze hit a pair of free throws with 24 seconds left to five TCU a 61-58 lead.

Senior forward Michael DeGrate missed a 3-point shot that would have tied the game for UNT with 15 seconds left and Chinweze made one final free throw to ice the game.

Both teams started off cold in the first half.

TCU shot 28 percent from the field in the first half, but grabbed a 28-27 lead at intermission thanks to a solid contribution from its bench. The Horned Frogs’ starters scored just four points in the first half.

Chinweze scored 11 points off the bench to help TCU take its early lead.

Even with a solid contribution from its bench, TCU failed to pull away from UNT in a back-and-forth game.

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6970.