Men’s basketball: UNT 79, New Orleans 77

Collin Dennis scored on a goaltending call with 3.1 seconds remaining to give the Mean Green the win.

It took 39 minutes and 59 seconds but North Texas finally ended the reign of the New Orleans Privateers over them on the road as the Mean Green (19-10, 10-8) captured a thrilling 79-77 win at the Human Performance Center.

With the win North Texas enters the Sun Belt Conference Tournament as the No. 6 seed and will host Arkansas State on March 5 at 7 p.m. at the Super Pit.

In a frantic final few seconds, junior guard Collin Dennis scored with 3.1 seconds on a goaltending call to give the Mean Green a 79-77 lead. Dennis took an inbound pass from Ben Bell from the backcourt and raced to the basket when Kendall Dykes blocked the shot off the glass while the ball was on the way down.

New Orleans (18-12, 8-10) had one final chance at the buzzer but Dykes missed a layup at the horn.

“What a great game and I was so proud of our guys for the way that they fought and played down the stretch with the game on the line,” said coach Johnny Jones.

Trailing 71-66 with 2:32 remaining, North Texas closed the gap quickly with five straight points capped by a Bell 3-pointer with 1:38 to play. New Orleans regained a two-point lead at 73-71 when Bo McCalebb scored with 1:11 remaining.

The Mean Green then got a 3-point play from Dennis who banked a shot in high off the glass and was fouled to put North Texas in front 74-73 with 51 seconds left.

The two teams traded free throws then with a 77-75 North Texas lead, McCalebb was fouled with eight seconds left. After making both free throws, the game was tied at 77-77, setting up the last second heroics by Dennis. He ended the night with a game-high 24 points. Quincy Williams notched his fourth straight double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Source: UNT