game story from Troy

NT80 · January 27, 2006

North Texas Has Just Enough Against Troy, 84-77

Jim Stephan 01/25/2006

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DENTON, Texas – North Texas shot 46.8 percent from the field and dominated the boards with a 50-33 advantage to post an 84-77 Sun Belt Conference victory over Troy Thursday night at the Super Pit. Bobby Dixon scored 28 points to lead the Trojans, who had a three-game winning streak snapped in falling to 10-8 overall and 3-3 in league play.

Todd Martin topped double figures for the first time with 12 points on four three-pointers, while Cedric Jackson added 10 points. Kendrick Davis led three Mean Green players in double figures with a career-high 27 points.

Troy fell behind by as many as 21 points early in the second half after North Texas (12-6, 5-2) turned a 46-33 lead at intermission into 51-33 and 55-34 with a 5-0 that extended to 9-1 by the 16:27 mark. The lead stayed in the upper-teens until back-to-back threes by Dixon and Martin cut the lead to 12, 68-56, with 7:28 remaining. The Trojans had a chance to close to within single-digits after a missed three, but Martin missed one of his own.

The next three times Troy trailed by 10, the Mean Green was able to answer with a basket or free throws on the next possession until Martin again struck from behind the arc. His three with 2:49 to play made the score 77-68, but five straight points including a banked three-pointer by Davis as the shot clock sounded, pushed the lead back to 14.

A Dixon layup and a steal and dunk by Sharp in a six-second span in the final minute put some spark in the Trojans, but they could never get closer than the final margin of seven points.

“We played a good basketball team in North Texas,” said head coach Don Maestri. “It was just one of those nights when we missed wide open jump shots and they hit a lot of threes. I expected a tough game on the boards because they can jump and they have good size.”

The first half was a case of hot shooting by the Mean Green. They hit nine of 18 three-pointers and 48.6 percent overall. With the score tied at 22 near the nine-minute mark, Calvin Watson hit one of his three first-half three-pointers to start a 5-0 run. After a jumper by Jarvis Acker, Watson hit another trey to start an 11-1 run that built the lead to 13, 38-25, with 3:45 remaining.

Acker and Martin hit three-pointers in the next minute to trim the margin to seven with 2:24 remaining, but North Texas outscored the Trojans 6-0 over the remaining time to rebuild a 13-point lead at the break. The halftime deficit was the first in five Sun Belt Conference games this season, while the 46 points allowed were the second-highest all year.

“I thought Daryl (Davis), Todd and Jarvis played well off the bench,” Maestri added. “We have to keep battling and keep fighting, not just in games, but all season. I was proud of the way we kept after them after falling behind more than 20 in the second half.”

Troy’s three-game road trip continues Saturday night at Denver. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. (CST).

marc_moffitt · January 27, 2006

I think it will be interesting to see how they do against Denver. I amagine that the Denver coaches will pay close attentino to how we defeated them and will likeley prepare for hem in a similar manner.

January 27, 2006

“We played a good basketball team in North Texas,” said head coach Don Maestri. “It was just one of those nights when we missed wide open jump shots and they hit a lot of threes. I expected a tough game on the boards because they can jump and they have good size.”

Backhanded.

I'll translate... "They beat us by lucky shot because we missed the easy shots."

gksmith · January 27, 2006

7 point is not a "blow out" but it is hardly a last second win either.

January 27, 2006

It really wasn't as close as the final score indicated. This team just needs to learn to maintain and extend leads late in games instead of letting teams try to think they can get back into it.

THOR · January 27, 2006

It really wasn't as close as the final score indicated. This team just needs to learn to maintain and extend leads late in games instead of letting teams try to think they can get back into it.
←

Do our boys lack the killer instinct?

CorinthEagle · January 27, 2006

I don't think it's lack of a killer instinct. It seemed to me that Troy started creeping back into the game when our guys started to try a little razzle dazzle instead of being patient. One trip down comes to mind where Brown tried to bounce a pass off the backboard for Simpson to dunk. Simpson couldn't get to it and Troy comes down and hits a three if I remember correctly. This was right after the spectacular behind the back pass that Watkins executed so it looked like everyone wanted to get in on the act. Made it exciting for the fans there, but also made it a nailbiter toward the end.

See everyone Sat, and bring 5 friends with you!!

Green Lantern · January 27, 2006

I don't think it's lack of a killer instinct. It seemed to me that Troy started creeping back into the game when our guys started to try a little razzle dazzle instead of being patient. One trip down comes to mind where Brown tried to bounce a pass off the backboard for Simpson to dunk. Simpson couldn't get to it and Troy comes down and hits a three if I remember correctly. This was right after the spectacular behind the back pass that Watkins executed so it looked like everyone wanted to get in on the act. Made it exciting for the fans there, but also made it a nailbiter toward the end.
See everyone Sat, and bring 5 friends with you!!
←

This was very true...but we also seemed to slow the pace of the game down significantly in the second half and were very content to pass around the perimiter to try and eat clock. It took away some of the intensity that our guys were playing with in the first half and allowed Troy to slowly creep back into the game. Our guys did a good job however, holding them off down the stretch.

Only lingering negative for me from the game is still our relatively poor free throw shooting. As e-bone stated, the game wasn't ever really as close as the final score indicated...and if we had hit all our free throws down the stretch, it would have been an even more lopsided win.

Make no mistake about it...We dominated Troy throughout the game. The coaches, team, and fans should all feel good about that. Troy is a quality opponent, so I was thrilled to see the guys come out ready to play last night.