Jaguars Fall In SBC Championship Game, Falls Short Of NCAA Tournament
Several things lead to a rough first half for South Alabama. WKU begin the game with an 11-0 advantage and eventually see their lead swell to as much as 15 with 5:58 to play in the first half. The first half saw the worst of the Jaguars with plenty of turnovers and an inability to get a defensive rebound allowing the Hilltoppers to shoot two, three and sometimes four times down the court. Then in addition to the sloppy play, WKU took advantage of USA’s spotty 3-point defense.
DeAndre Coleman, who was still suffering from a stomach illness, took the Jaguars onto his back and kept them in the game for the first half. At halftime, the Jaguars were only down by ten points, 35-25.
The second half saw the Jaguars come out of the locker room determined to try to win the game, knowing that their only opportunity to get a bid to the NCAA Tournament was by winning this game.
Domonic Tilford came out and drained an early 3-pointer to cut the hilltopper lead under ten points for the first time since it was 9-0. Add a DeAndre Coleman layup and another Tilford trey and the jaguars were within four points with 16:29 left in the game.
Sherrer connected with Coleman for another layup and a foul on Magley of the hilltoppers. Coleman connected on the free throw to get the Jags within one points of the lead 37-36 with 15:48 left in the game. Then Coleman gave South Alabama their first lead of the game 41 seconds later on a tip-in.
Tilford would extend the Jaguar lead to 43-39 on a three pointer with 12:17 left. However the lead was short lived after a layup and a trey by the hilltoppers retook the lead with 10:58 left in the game at 44-43.
The Jaguars would tie the game up one more time at 46 on a DeAndre Coleman free throw with 8:34 left in the game. However the Jags ran out of fuel and could not keep pace with the hilltoppers. Each time the Jags would start to get close, Orlando Mendez-Valdez would drain a 3-pointer. The Jaguars were within four points with 2:52 left but free throw shooting, turnovers and shots that would not fall would end the game. The final score was 64-56.
Brandon Davis would lead all scorers, coming off the bench to score 27 points on 11-16 shooting, 5-6 from the free throw line and adding 9 rebounds. Domonic Tilford, the Jaguars leading scorer, could only score 12 points on 4-10 shooting, 4-6 from beyond the arc.
A.J. Slaughter would lead the hilltoppers in scoring with 18 points on 5-14 shooting, 2-8 from 3-point range and 6-6 from the free throw line. Steffphon Pettigrew added 15 points and Orlando Mendez-Valdez added 10 points and eight assists. Mendez-Valdez only hit two shots from the floor, but they were both 3-pointers to seal the game.
The Jaguars shot 50% from the floor for the game compared to 42% for the hilltoppers. The Jags shot 50% from 3-point range while the hilltoppers shot 35%. The Jags went to the charity stripe 8 times and made five of them while the hilltoppers made all 14 attempts.
South Alabama will have to wait and see if they receive an invitation to play in the NIT Tournament.
The seniors DeAndre Coleman, Domonic Tilford, Brandon Davis, B.J. Ford, Ronald Douglas and Jamal Harris played a great season for the Jaguars. They fought hard through injuries, a tough last second losing streak and illness to have a good season. Hopefully they will go on and do good in whatever comes of them after their time at South Alabama.
GO JAGS!!
Jaguar Men Face WKU In Sun Belt Championship Game
The Jaguars knew they needed to win four in a row in order to get into the big dance that is the NCAA Tournament this year. So far they have done what they have needed to in order to get it done. Now comes the final step, win game four against their sworn rival, Western Kentucky.
The Jaguars came out and jumped onto the UALR Trojans from the beginning. Starting the game with a 15-3 run and eventually going up 20-5 with 11 minutes remaining in the first half. The largest lead of the game was 16 as late as 6:15 left in the first half. The Jags went into the locker room with a 13 point lead at 32-19 to end a spectacular half of basketball.
The second half would be more physical and most of it was very low scoring. Through the first 16 minutes of the second half the Jaguars could only manage ten points while the Trojans could only manage 11 points keeping the Jaguars in the lead by 12.
South Alabama shot terribly through the rest of the game scoring ten of their final 12 points from the free throw line. Nonetheless, Coach Arrow and the Jags will still take the 54-44 win.
Domonic Tilford and Bryan Sherrer lead the way with 17 points each. Brandon Davis came down with 12 rebounds, ten of the defensive while Ronald Douglas came away with 11 rebounds, eight of the defensive.
UALR only had two players scoring in double digits. Mike Smith and John Fowler both scored ten points each, with Fowler adding ten rebounds for a double-double.
Both teams shot terrible in the second half with UALR shooting slightly better 22.9% to USA’s 22.2%. But for the game the Jags shot 41% to UALR’s 26.2% for the difference.
Jaguars play Western Kentucky tonight on ESPN2 for the Sun Belt Championship and the right to represent the Sun Belt Conference in the NCAA Tournament.
Unfortunately the Women’s team lost a tough game against Middle Tennessee State 77-71.
GO JAGS!!
South Alabama Men Advances To Quarterfinals With Win Over Troy
After losing both meetings to the Trojans during the regular season, South Alabama finally found a way to win at the perfect time. With strong performances by key players, including a very visibly sick DeAndre Coleman, and Troy’s inability to hit clutch shots in the final minute of the game lead to the 78-75 victory.
The game started rough for the Jaguars with the Trojans hitting two 3-pointers and four missed shots by the Jags in the first 70 seconds of the game to jump out to an 8-0 lead. Coach Arrow quickly called a 30 second timeout to regroup his team.
At the 14:54 mark of the first half the Trojans again stretched their lead to eight points 16-8 but the Jaguars would start to come alive finally. The Jags would take the lead with a 10-1 run over 2:36. But the Jaguars could not go ahead by more than a single point, trading the lead several times in the first half. However, Troy would eventually regain a narrow lead and go into the locker room up by four, 41-37.
The second half would see more close play with the lead changing hands a couple times before USA was able to push out to a four point lead with 14:37 left in the second half. However that lead would be short lived and a few more lead changes would occurr before USA would take the lead for the final time of the game at the 11:31 mark.
USA would go out to their largest lead of the game at eight points with 3:57 remaining but they could not put Troy away for good. Ronald Douglas would get fouled and he would make both of his free throws at the 2:13 mark and DeAndre Coleman would be fouled and make both of his free throw attempts at the :34 second mark, but the Jaguar free throw shooting would be abysmal for the rest of the game.
After Coleman’s free throws the Jaguars were up 77-73 and a potentially costly fouled by Bryan Sherrer allowed Troy to pull back within two points with the clock stopped. The inbounds play saw DeAndre Coleman get fouled by Kenny Ware of Troy but Coleman missed his first attempt but sunk his second to give the Jaguars a three point lead with 28 seconds to go at 78-75.
In the final 28 seconds there were three missed shots by Troy and four missed free throws by the Jaguars. However its still a win for the Jaguars.
Troy’s Brandon Hazzard had a game high of 22 points going 8-20 from the floor, 4-12 from 3-point range and 2-4 from the free-throw line. Michael Vogler and Richard Delk both added 12 for the Trojans.
Domonic Tilford scored 20 points to lead the Jaguars going 7-20 from the floor, 2-8 from 3-point range and 4-4 from the free throw line. LaShun Watson added a career high 18 points. A sick DeAndre Coleman scored 17 points. Finally Brandon Davis scored 11 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double.
The Quarterfinal games for the Men’s Bracket will have #1 Western Kentucky squaring off against #4 North Texas at 6:30pm then the #6 Jaguars will take on #2 UALR at 9:00. With two more victories the Jaguars will automatically receive a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
GO JAGS!!!!
Jags Punch Their Ticket To Hot Springs Arkansas With 62-60 Win
Philip Tabet at the free throw line. - Image by Doug Roberts http://www.dougstech.com/
The Jaguars never trailed in the game but saw a 16 point advantage dwindle away to one with just a minute left in the game. But the Jags held on for the win over the Privateers in the first round of the SBC Tournament to advance to Hot Springs, Arkansas. #6 seed USA will face #3 Troy on Sunday at 9pm.
Domonic Tilford would open the game with a 3-pointer but was answered by UNO’s Jaroslav Tyrna’s 3-pointer seconds later. That would be the only tie of the game. The Jaguars would then go on a 13-4 run over the next five and a half minutes. But the privateers would close the gap with an 11-4 run of their own to get within two points at 20-18. However this would be as close as they would get for the remainder of the first half.
Ronald Douglas would visibily hurt his right shoulder in the first half on the offensive side and would have to come out with pain. When leaving the court he would soon go to the locker room and would not see any more action in the first half. His replacement, Philip Tabet, would spur the Jaguars 15-3 run over seven minutes when he hit a jumper and was fouled by UNO’s Jahmal Burroughs. Tabet sunk his free-throw as well. The Jaguars would go into the locker room with a 13 point lead.
A Domonic Tilford layup early in the second half would extend the Jaguar lead back to 15. But UNO would continue to fight over the next five minutes to cut the Jaguar lead down to eight at 43-35 with a 9-2 run. However the Jaguars would answer the privateers with a 12-4 run over about seven minutes for the largest Jaguar lead of the game at 16 points with 8:29 left in the game.
But when the Jags when up by 16, their shooting went cold. going over four minutes without a basket or free-throw. The Privateers would cut the lead to a mere three points, 56-53, with 3:27 left in the game with a 14-1 run. During the run the Jags missed three shots and DeAndre Coleman would miss two free-throws before Domonic Tilford would sink one of his two free throw attempts to end the scoreless drought.
DeAndre Coleman would a jumper at the 2:54 mark to give USA a key five point advantage. LaShun Watson would foul UNO’s Kyndall Dykes with Dykes making both free throws. With the jaguar lead now three points, Domonic Tilford would foul Justin Archie with 1:01 left in the game. Archie would sink both free throws to cut the Jaguar lead to one point. A Brandon Davis layup and foul with 33 seconds left would extend the lead to three points once again. Davis would miss his free throw attempt to extend the lead to four points.
UNO’s Kyndall Dykes attempted a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left and missed the shot. Brandon Davis got the rebound and was fouled by Jaroslav Tyrna to send Davis to the line again. Davis misses both attempts and UNO would come away with the rebound and Davis would foul T.J. Worley for his 5th personal foul. Worley would make his first attempt but missed his second and would miss their tip-in attempt to only cut the jaguar lead to two points, 60-58 with 12 seconds left.
Jaroslav Tyrna would be forced to fould Domonic Tilford with 7 seconds remaining to send him to the line. After making both free throws to seal the victory UNO would still try a desperation 3-pointer but missed with 4 seconds left. Kyndall Dykes would make a final shot as time expired for the final score of 62-60.
UNO’s Kyndall Dykes would lead all scorers with 17 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. T.J. Worley would be the only other Privateer in double digits with 15 points.
Domonic Tilford would lead USA in scoring with 13 points while LaShun Watson would add 11 and Ronald Douglas would add 11 points and five rebounds. Philip Tabet, who gave an emotional burst in the first half would end the night with 6 points and 5 rebounds.
USA lead the privateer in shooting 47%-38% from the floor, and 40%-33% from 3-point range. But the Privateers lead the free-throw percentage 76%-61%. The Jaguars also lead with points in the paint 28-22, points off turnovers 15-12 and second chance points 13-6. UNO would lead fast break points 7-4 and scoring from the bench would be even at 21 points each.
In his last four game, DeAndre Coleman has come away with 10 rebounds each time to gather his 500th during the game. He leads the conference in rebounding with 8.3 per game. The Jaguars are now 15-1 when leading at halftime for the season and are 9-0 when leading a Sun Belt team at half time.
Three more wins and the Jaguars will be in the NCAA Tournament. GO JAGS!!!!
Jaguars Lose On Poor Shooting And Turnovers
The Jaguars shot only 36% and had 17 turnovers in their loss to Troy in the regular season finale.
Troy started the game with an 11-3 run over the first six and a half minutes to take an eight point lead. A three-pointer by Domonic Tilford would spur the Jaguars to a short rally to cut the Trojan lead and tie the game at 16 about half way through the first half.
The Trojans would break the tie and push out to a seven point lead with 5:31 left in the first half. Again the Jaguars mounted a rally attempt and would cut the lead down to three, 29-26 with 2:52 left in the opening half. But Troy would again extend their lead to seven points, have it cut down to four points and extend it to seven once more just before halftime, 36-29.
Domonic Tilford would open the second half with a 3-pointer but would still see Troy’s lead grow to eight points four minutes into the second half. Yet another three pointer by Domonic Tilford would shrink the Trojan lead to four, 45-41 with 13:55 left in the second half. But Troy would answer with a 6-0 run to stretch their lead to the largest of the game, 51-41.
After trading baskets, the Jaguars would make another run at the Troy lead by going on a 7-0 run over three minutes to get within three points of the lead at 53-50. Troy would once again hit a 6-1 run over a minute and a half to lead by eight, 59-51. The Jaguars would make one last run for the game going 7-2 over four minutes and seventeen seconds to get within three points with 25 seconds left. LaShun Watson was forced to foul with 19 seconds left with Troy making both attempts to make the Trojan lead five points, 63-58. Domonic Tilford missed a three-point attemp with 14 seconds left forcing Ronald Douglas to foul when Troy came away with the rebound.
Domonic Tilford led the Jags in scoring with 17 on 5-17 shooting from the floor, 5-12 from 3-point range and going 2-2 from the free-throw line. Bryan Sherrer was the only other Jag to score in double digits with 12, he went 4-7 from the floor, missed both 3-point attempts but hit all four of his free-throw attempts.
Troy had four players in double digits. Michael Vogler scored 13, Brandon Hazzard had 12, and Antywan Jones and Mario Telfair both had 10 for the Trojans.
Troy outscored the Jags in the paint 36-20, off turnovers 17-6 and in fast break points 10-4. Troy also outshot the Jags 45% – 36% from the floor. While the Jags out rebounded Troy 45-34, they turned the ball over 17 times. However the Jaguar defense held Troy to 15 points below their season average and held them 31 lower than their previous matchup in the Mitchell Center.
Coach Arrow remarked after the game, “Offensively we just didn’t make enough plays. We didn’t attack the zone good, we had some guys that didn’t play well tonight and now we’ve got to go back to the drawing board. We have to have all of our guys show up ready to play for the tournament.”
Domonic Tilford is now seventh place in USA single season history with 74 three-point field goals in a season. DeAndre Coleman is also one rebound shy of 500 for his career at South Alabama.
USA drops to 17-12 for the season and 10-8 in the Sun Belt while Troy improves to 19-11 overall and 14-4 in the SBC. South Alabama will await the announcement of their opponent in the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference on Sunday.
GO JAGS!!
Jags Notch Fourth In A Row By Downing Louisiana-Monroe
Two Jaguars ended the night with double-doubles to lead USA to their fourth victory in a row and sixth in the last seven games. USA improves to 17-11 overall and 10-7 in the Sun Belt Conference.
ULM scored first in the game on two free-throws but USA would keep it close throughout the first four and a half minutes of the game. But with 15:25 left in the opening half with the Jags down by one at 8-9 they would go on a 18-4 run over the next seven plus minutes to take a 13 point lead with 7:47 left in the opening half. But ULM would slowly chip away at the Jaguar lead until they were within three points with 43 seconds to go in the half. A tip-in by DeAndre Coleman with time expiring took USA into the locker room with a five point advantage, 35-30.
USA’s lead would get out to as much as seven points in the opening minutes of the second half until a short 6-0 run over three minutes put the Jaguars back out to a double digit lead, 46-35.
USA and ULM would trade baskets over the next seven minutes until USA would finally push out to a 15 point lead with just under eight minutes left. Over the next four minutes they would methodically close the gap to seven, 63-56, with 3:48 to go in the game but that would be as close as they could get in the final minutes. A few traded baskets later and the Jags would win by the same margin 67-60.
DeAndre Coleman would lead all scorers with 21 points on 9-13 shooting, missing his only 3-point attempt and going 3-8 from the free-throw line but added 10 rebounds for a double-double while still blocking three shots. Brandon Davis would add 16 points and 14 rebounds for another double-double for USA. Domonic Tilford was the only other USA player in double-digits scoring with 11. Ronald Douglas also blocked four shots to extend his streak of consecutive games with a blocked shot to 12.
Louisiana-Monroe had three players in double digits: Lawrence Gilbert scored 14 and Malcolm Thomas and Kenneth Averette both scored 11.
The Jags shot 47% from the floor compared to ULM’s 35% and the Jags out rebounded them 41-34. USA outscored them in the paint 42-20, off turnovers 15-10, and fast break points 8-4.
When asked about the teams recent success Coach Arrow answered, “It’s defense. Our guards have bought into better guarding their man. Before, all of their guys were getting to the hole, and our guys were shot-blocking. Now, they’re doing a better job of containing, knowing that if they get by our post is there to shot-block. What Ronald Douglas does for this team, he alters so many shots. It’s good to know when they do get by our guards, we have the shot-blockers back there to guard the hole.”
The Jaguars regular season closer is scheduled for Saturday in Troy, Alabama with a 7:30pm tip-off.
GO JAGS!!!
Jaguars Come From Behind For Win Over Middle Tennessee
Jaguars turn up the defense and rally from nine points down for their third consecutive victory. With this win the Jaguars improve to 16-11 overall and 9-7 in the Sun Belt Conference while the Blue Raiders fall to 15-12 overall and 8-7 in the Sun Belt Conference.
MTSu started the game with a 7-0 run in the first three minutes of the game. The Jaguars would follow that up with a 6-0 run of their own in the next three minutes. Both teams would trade baskets over the next five minutes until USA finally gained the lead on a dunk by Ronald Douglas at the 9:01 mark of the first half.
The Jaguar lead would get out to as much as three points, 16-13, before MTSU would come back to regain the lead and go into halftime with a 26-23 advantage.
The beginning of the second half started simlarly to the first half with MTSU jumping out with an 8-2 runover the first three minutes. This run would put the Blue Raiders in front by nine points, 34-25, with 17:06 left in the second half. Early in the second half, LaShun Watson took an elbow to the mouth. It resulted in Watson receiving five stitches and he did not return to the game.
Down 41-33 with 11:25 remaining in the second half the Jaguars would regain the lead and control of the game with a 15-2 run over a five and a half minute run to take a five point lead. Kevin Kanaskie tried to keep the Blue Raiders in the game with a 3-pointer, cutting the lead back down to two, but USA would not let them get closer than that moment the rest of the way. The Jaguars would win the game 63-57.
Coach Arrow remarked about the game, “That was a very, very physical game. Both teams came out and got after it. The difference in the game was we held them to 36 percent and we had nine blocked shots. When you have that many blocked shots from guys getting to the hole, that’s almost like a turnover.”
Freshman phenom CJ Garner lead all USA scorers with 15 points for a career high, with 13 of them coming in the second half. More impressively he hit 5-6 free-throws in the final 38 seconds to help seal the victory. Coach Arrow remarked about Garner, “C.J. is growing up; he’s not a freshman anymore, We call him an advanced freshman, with all the experience that he’s gotten. He ran his team tonight very well.”
Three other Jaguars scored 11 points each: Domonic Tilford who went 6-6 fron the free throw line and made the only Jaguar 3-pointer for the game. DeAndre Coleman added 11 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots for his seventh double-double of the season and his ninth of his career. Ronald Douglas scored 11 points and had five blocked shots but only made 5-12 free throw attempts for the game.
MTSU had a pair of players score 15 points: Desmond Yates and Memetrius Green with only one 3-pointer between them. Kevin Kanaskie was the only other player in double digits for the Blue Raider with 11 being held to three 3-pointers for the contest.
USA held MTSU to 36% shooting for the game and 4-13 for the game from beyond the 3-point arc. But USA dominated the free-throw line going 28-42 while MTSU went 5-12. MTSU obviously had foul problems with Yates fouling out with 6:21 remaining in the game and another bench player fouling out in the game plus two other starters with four fouls each.
This win moves USA over Middle Tennessee to the 3rd position in the eastern division of the Sun Belt Conference, a full three games behind Troy for second place in the eastern division.
The Jaguars return home for their regular season finale when they host Louisiana-Monroe for a 7:05pm match-up in the Mitchell Center.
So come out and SUPPORT YOUR JAGS!!!
Jaguars Win In Impressive Fashion Over FAU
The Jaguars showed what they can do when they are hitting on all cylinders. They never trailed during the game and shot over 67% from the floor for the contest in their fourth consecutive home victory to get them above .500 for the season in the Sun Belt Conference.
Throughout the first ten minutes of the first half, FAU would not let USA get too far from their sights and would close the gap to within one point. But with a 15-3 run the Jags would never look back for the rest of the half gaining a 15 point advantage several times in the final four minutes of the half, going into the locker room up 46-31.
The second half would see both teams trading baskets but USA would eventually inch out to a 21 point lead at 60-39 at the 14:13 mark in the second half. FAU would not give up, battling back with a 15-5 run in just under four minutes to close the lead to 11 points, 65-54.
FAU and the Jaguars would continue trading shots until FAU closed the lead by one more point to 10, 77-67, with 4:48 remaining in the game. But USA would finish the game with a 14-3 run for the final score of 91-70.
Coach Arrow said after the game, “I thought tonight that we went ahead and put them away. We shared the ball really well tonight. Twenty-six assists is super. We executed our plays and in transition. When we took the lead early, our defense got steals, layups and deflections. We played with a lot of energy to start the game.”
Florida Atlantic’s Paul Graham III lead all in scoring with 27 points on 10-22 shooting, going 3-8 from 3-point range and hitting all four of his free-throw attempts. Shavar Richardson added 24 points as well as being the only other player in double-digits for FAU.
Brandon Davis lead the way for the Jags with 23 points on 9-10 shooting from the floor and 5-6 from the free-throw line, he did not attempt any 3-point shots. Domonic Tilford scored 17 points hitting 3 of the Jaguars six 3-pointers for the game. LaShun Watson scored 12 points and had a tie for the most assists for the game with DeAndre Coleman with 7. Bryan Sherrer scored 11 and CJ Garner added 10 points to round out the double digit scorers.
USA as a team has 8 blocks and 13 turnovers compared with FAU’s one block and 9 forced turnovers. USA led with 46 points in the paint to FAU’s 20 and 27 fast break points to FAU’s 2.
The Jaguars are back in action on Thursday when they travel to Middle Tennessee State for a 7pm tip-off against the Blue Raiders who won their previous match-up at the Mitchell Center 82-67. A win against MTSU would move USA over MTSU into 3rd place in the Eastern Division.
GO JAGUARS!
Western Kentucky Proves To Be Too Strong Down The Stretch For The Jaguars
WKU was too strong down the stretch for the Jaguars and won the contest in Bowling Green, 67-59. The game was broadcast on ESPN2 and Coach Arrow said, ““Fans got to see across the country what the Sun Belt is all about. Both teams made a good showing they just got some things done at the end that we didn’t.”
The Hilltoppers jumped out and dominated the first 3:57 of the game by holding them scoreless. WKU then pulled out to a 16-8 lead before they hit a cold streak for the next 4:04 allowing the Jags to tie the game.
The remainder of the first half saw the Hilltoppers pull away towards the end of the half for a 33-26 halftime lead.
Orlando Mendez-Valdez had a hot hand in the first half and that continued in the second half. The Jags pulled within two less than two minutes into the second half but Mendez-Valdez connected on one of his ten 3-point attempts to keep WKU in the lead. However by the 15:55 mark, the Jaguars took the lead, for the first time in the game, on a Ronald Douglas dunk on a pass from Domonic Tilford.
The Jaguars would pull out to their largest lead at five points at the 13:46 mark in the second half. But the Hilltoppers would not give up and would start working their way back.
After a few ties and swapping leads, the two teams would be tied for the last time on a 3-pointer by WKU with 3:47 left in the game at 59. After a timeout by USA, DeAndre Coleman would be whistled for a three second violation and USA would go scoreless for the final 3:47 of the game.
Orlando Mendez-Valdez lead all scorers with 24 on 9-20 shooting while going 6-10 from 3-point range and no free-throw attempts. AJ Slaughter and Steffphon Pettigrew both scored 13 for the Hilltoppers.
DeAndre Coleman lead USA with 13 points while three Jags scored 12: Brandon Davis, Ronald Douglas and Domonic Tilford.
The Hilltoppers record improves to 17-7 and 11-2 in the Sun Belt to stay in first place in the Eastern Division. While USA falls to 13-11 and 6-7 in the Sun Belt to be in 4th place in the Eastern Division.
The Jaguars will host Florida International at the Mitchell Center on Thursday, February 12th with tip-off slated for 7:05pm.
Come out and support your Jaguars!
Jags Win Second Straight Home Game Downing UNT
The Jaguars even their Sun Belt record at 6-6 and improves to 13-10 overall while North Texas drops to 12-10 overall and 5-6 in the conference.
The Jags lead most of the first half after UNT took the lead with the first score of the game. The Jags pulled out to a modest lead but UNT would close the gap to three at halftime, 37-34.
UNT would keep it close in the second half, getting within one point with 14:49 left in the game. The Jags would then go on a 19-3 run to gain an 11 point lead for the second time in the game, the other time was 9:38 mark in the first half.
UNT would then go on a 13-2 run of their own to take the lead for the first time since 25 seconds into the first half. But LaShun Watson would step up and drain two jumpers to score the final four points in the last 1:20 of the game.
Domonic Tilford would lead all scorers with 22 points on 6-15 shooting, also going 4-6 from 3-point range and hitting all six of this free-throws. Brandon Davis added 15 points and LaShun Watson added 14 including the final four of the game.
Ronald Douglas tied his career high with six blocks in the game in his second game back from a shoulder injury. DeAndre Coleman fouled out early in the second half without scoring any points.
North Texas had two scorers in double digits: George Odufuwa and Eric Tramiel both with 14. Tramiel also came down with 13 rebouds for a double-double.
The Jags travel to Western Kentucky for a 1pm tip-off Saturday that will be televised on ESPN2.
GO JAGS!