DRC..1st tourney win in 27 years..Mens BB

OldTimer · December 8, 2002

UNT ends 27-year tourney drought Mean Green beats Winthrop in final

12/08/2002

By Tim MacMahon / Staff Writer

ROCK HILL, S.C. ? A pair of lengthy streaks ended Saturday night, and North Texas certainly would never have imagined that the two would be extinguished together.

The Mean Green registered a 65-56 victory over Winthrop to win the Brothers Air and Heat Shootout, its first tournament title since the 1975 Creighton Classic. UNT did so despite getting just five points from star swingman Chris Davis in the championship game Saturday night at Winthrop Coliseum ? the first time in 41 games he failed to score in double figures.

"We got a trophy; that?s all that matters," said Davis, who was 2-of-14 from the floor but led UNT with 11 rebounds and seven assists. "I did what I could do to help the team."

Davis had plenty of help from his teammates to hand Winthrop (4-4), which has won the Big South Conference the last four years, its eighth home loss in coach Gregg Marshall?s five-year tenure. Forward Jermaine Green recorded his second double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and point guard Jerome Rogers came off the bench to score 16 points.

"It?s encouraging for us," UNT coach Johnny Jones said. "Different people on our team took the opportunity to step up. Chris? presence on the floor allows other people that opportunity, because teams devise their defenses to stop him."

Added Green: "We have a good team behind him [Davis]. If your go-to guy is struggling, other people need to get it done. We did that tonight."

The Mean Green (3-2), which will play its first home game of the season Tuesday night against TCU, trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half. UNT took control of the game with a 15-2 spurt, which began six minutes into the second half. Reserve forward Michael DeGrate, a junior college transfer who entered the season with big expectations but had made a minimal contribution, scored all seven of his points during the run, capping it with a layup and 3-pointer on consecutive possessions.

Winthrop responded by scoring nine of the next 12 points to whittle the lead to four with 2:40 to play. Forward Tyrone Walker, who led all players with 18 points and 13 rebounds, scored seven points during the stretch.

A 3-pointer with 2:06 remaining by guard Leonard Hopkins, who had a relatively quiet nine points one night after scoring a career-high 24, all but iced the game for UNT. Green came up with a loose ball and dished to Hopkins in just enough time to fire before the shot-clock buzzer sounded.

The Mean Green shot a woeful 32 percent from the floor in the first half but entered the locker room down just one point, 32-31, thanks to a spark from 3-point specialist Rogers. The 5-10 junior, who entered the game with UNT trailing by nine, was 3-of-4 from behind the arc and had two assists in seven first-half minutes.

"I just wanted to come in and give the team a lift," Rogers said.

UNT didn?t shoot the ball particularly well all night ? finishing just 37 percent from the floor ? but made up for it with a dominating effort defensively and on the glass. The Mean Green held Winthrop to 33 percent shooting and won the rebounding battle by a 49-39 margin.

"Congratulations to North Texas," said Marshall, the Winthrop coach who was admittedly agitated by the way UNT physically overpowered his team. "They were obviously the better team, the tougher team, the hungrier team and the team that deserved to win the most. They just had the desire to get it done that the Winthrop Eagles didn?t have tonight."

TIM MACMAHON can be reached at 940-381-9572.