DENTON, Texas – The Old Dominion men's basketball team (11-16, 7-7) fell to league-leader North Texas (18-9, 12-2) by a 64-47 score on Saturday afternoon at the Super Pit. Joe Reece led the way for ODU, going for 12 points and five rebounds. Also in double-figures for the Monarchs was Xavier Green, who finished with 11 points. Malik Curry followed with nine points and two assists.
After leading by 11 at the half, UNT opened the second half on a 22-12 run, claiming a 50-29 lead with 9:19 remaining in regulation. A 7-1 Old Dominion run would bring the Monarchs within 15, 51-36, at the 7:43 mark, but ODU would not get any closer the rest of the way.
"We didn't have it today," said ODU head coach Jeff Jones. "North Texas is really good. They are a deep team and their coaching staff did a great job taking advantage of our fatigue. I can't really explain a game like this. We just didn't give ourselves much of a chance. It was not our day."
The Mean Green claimed a 28-17 lead at halftime after holding ODU scoreless for the final 6:31 of the first half. The Monarchs were led by Reece's seven first half points on 2-3 shooting from downtown.
Old Dominion's remaining four games of the regular season, as part of Conference USA's 'Bonus Play' will be announced tomorrow around 1:00 p.m. ET.
"You find out an awful lot about yourselves in situations like this," concluded Jones. "All year long we have shown resilience. Once we find out who we are playing, we will get back to work and take it one game at a time."
Monarchs Fall at League Leader North Texas, 64-47
Xavier Green