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Men's basketball: UNT men enjoying hot streak

Tied for first in West, team faces 11-6 ASU

08:23 AM CST on Saturday, January 24, 2004

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

JONESBORO, Ark. — For Michael DeGrate and the rest of the North Texas men’s basketball team, the game just seems easier these days.

Shots fall more often and rebounds appear easier to grab.

Winning, it turns out, was not only the Mean Green’s goal, but its cure.

UNT won a pair of Sun Belt Conference contests at home and then played one of its best games this season on the road Thursday night in a win over Arkansas-Little Rock.

The Mean Green hopes to carry the momentum it built while winning three straight games into today’s Sun Belt game against Arkansas State (11-6,2-4).

UNT (8-8, 3-1) enters the contest tied for first place in the SBC’s West Division with Louisiana-Lafayette and New Orleans.

"You build confidence when you win," DeGrate said. "The game feels a lot easier. The monkey is off of our shoulders now that we have won a few games."

UNT enters its game against ASU in the midst of its longest winning streak since late in the 2001-02 season when the Mean Green also won three consecutive games.

The streak is a milestone for UNT, which won just two conference games all of last season and finished in last place in its division.

"The first couple of years I was here, we took a lot of losses," UNT junior guard Leonard Hopkins said. "It’s a great feeling to be rewarded for all of our hard work now."

UNT coach Johnny Jones attributed the Mean Green’s run in part to the continuity the team has developed over the last few weeks. UNT has four playerswho are new to the team, including senior forward Shawnson Johnson.

The LSU transfer didn’t play with the Mean Green until the end of the first semester and needed time to find his form after missing the first five games of the season. Johnson leads the team with an average of 14.5 points and 9.0 rebounds a game.

Freshman guard Calvin Watson also missed the first 11 games of the season with a broken foot.

And as if that were not enough, starting point guard Scott Roniger left the team after nine games for personal reasons.

UNT seems to have worked through those issues and become comfortable playing together just in time for the key part of the season.

"Just having time to play together has helped us," Jones said. "Our chemistry is starting to come together."

That was never more evident than in UNT’s 82-77 win over Arkansas-Little Rock. The Trojans entered the game as the leader in the Sun Belt’s East Division and had lost just one game at home all season.

The only other team to beat UALR at the Alltel Center this season is Mississippi State.

The Mean Green was able to join the exclusive club after Jerome Rogers made a series of key plays late. The senior guard scored UNT’s last seven points, including a 3-point shot with 31 seconds left that proved to be the difference in the game.

"We are playing better and making what I consider progress," Jones said. "It encourages me that we won on the road against a quality opponent."

Building on that win could be a challenge against Arkansas State. The Indians don’t have the top record in the Sun Belt, but they posted a series of impressive wins in non-conference play.

The Indians beat Mississippi (74-69), Southern Mississippi (78-71) and TCU (64-58) before floundering early in Sun Belt play. ASU lost its fourth straight game Monday when it fell to Denver 66-65.

All four losses have come by 10 points or less.

ASU is a threat to break out of that slump any time, thanks to its high-scoring duo of J.J. Montgomery and Dewarick Spencer.

Montgomery, a 6-5 junior guard, was a finalist for the Division I National Junior College Player of the Year honor at Angelina College two years ago and is leading the Sun Belt with an average of 19.5 points a game. Spencer, a 6-4 junior guard and another former junior college All-America selection, ranks second in the league with an average of 18.2 points a game.

UNT appears more prepared than ever to face the challenge ASU’s high-scoring tandem will present after winning its third straight game.

"We are playing with a lot of confidence after winning three in a row," Hopkins said. "Any time you can win on the road, it helps."

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870.

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