By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The North Texas Mean Green came into the UTSA Convocation Center Saturday with dozens of their own raucous fans in attendance and with a reputation for playing stifling defense. With their fans cheering them on, the Mean Green more than lived up to their billing.

They held the Roadrunners 23 points below their scoring average and walked away with a 72-57 victory in the American Athletic Conference.

Guard Atin Wright, a transfer from Drake, scored 22 points to lead the Mean Green. Wright hit five of eight from beyond the three-point arc.

North Texas basically won the game in the first half, when it limited UTSA to 25 percent shooting. As a result, the Mean Green carried a 40-18 lead into the dressing room.

In the second half, the Roadrunners played their best basketball, forcing turnovers with pressure defense and making a run that brought their own fans to the edge of their seats.

A Marcus Millender layup with 3:27 remaining pulled UTSA to within seven points. Afterward, the Roadrunners couldn’t sustain the momentum, allowing the Mean Green to win for the sixth time in their last eight trips to San Antonio.

North Texas, one of UTSA’s chief in-state rivals in all sports, improved to 22-14 in the series overall and to 10-9 at the Convocation Center.

First-year UTSA coach Austin Claunch applauded second-year North Texas coach Ross Hodge and pointed the finger at himself in the opening statement of his postgame media session.

“First off, give them credit,” Claunch said. “They were prepared. Ross had them ready to play, and I did not. When you get down against a great team, it’s hard to crawl back out of that hole we were in. I was extremely proud of (the Roadrunners) in the second half, to show our fight.

“You know, they do that a lot of teams. They bury teams with physicality and toughness, and we showed our ability to play in those games. You know, it’s hard. I think we got it to seven with a chance to cut it to five.

“And at the end, you got to kind of run around and you end up losing by 15. But, again, our fight to get back in the game and cut it to a couple of possessions — that’s something we can build on.”

Right now, the Mean Green appear to have what it takes to contend for the title in the American Athletic Conference.

They’re 13-4 overall and 4-1 and tied for first in conference with the UAB Blazers and the Tulane Green Wave. Memphis and Temple are a half game back at 3-1.

“We love this group, man,” Hodge said outside the visitors dressing room. “From the moment they’ve gotten here in the summer, they really like each other, and they like to work, and they allow us to coach them very directly. They don’t take it (personally), and they’ve gotten a lot better as a group.”

The Roadrunners are 8-9 and 2-3, in a four-way tie for seventh place.

On good nights, they’re capable of putting up big offensive numbers, as evidenced by their 80 points per game average for the season, including an average of 89 in back-to-back victories over Wichita State and Rice in their last two outings.

All of which speaks to the nature of what the Mean Green did to the Roadrunners in the first half, holding them to five of 20 shooting from the field.

North Texas hounded UTSA leading scorer Primo Spears, making him work for everything. Same story for Marcus Millender. Spears hit only one of seven from the field in the first half and Millender one of four.

“I think a lot of what you saw in the first half was the respect level our players and staff have for what coach Claunch has done here at UTSA,” Hodge said. “How explosive Primo is, and Smurf (Marcus Millender). I felt like our game-plan discipline that first half was about as good as it’s been.

“We really took care of the ball, took them out of transition and just tried to make it as hard as we could (on their offensive threats).

“I thought they flipped it in the second half, and they kind of imposed their will on us. Started turning us over. Started getting the game (in a faster pace) up and down. They’re really, really good in that type of game.”

Millender, coming off back-to-back, 20-plus points performances, was held to 13 for the game. Spears, averaging 21.7 for the season, tied a season-low with six points. He shot one for 14 from the field, including zero for seven in the second half.

Guard Tai’Reon Joseph led the Roadrunners with 19 points on seven-for-11 shooting. Forward Raekwon Horton had 15 points, three assists and three steals. Forcing turnovers and a faster pace, the Roadrunners shot 46.7 percent in the second half and 38 percent for the game.

For the Mean Green, forwards Moulaye Sissoko and Brenen Lorient contributed on both ends of the court, clogging up the middle on defense and also scoring 13 points apiece.

Sissoko, one of the North Texas holdovers from last year, had eight rebounds, including three offensive. Playing off the bench, Lorient contributed seven boards, three blocked shots and a steal.

Point guard Jasper Floyd scored only two points but seemed to make a significant impact, passing for six assists against only one turnover. Backcourt mate Johnathan Massie had 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Records

North Texas 13-4, 4-1
UTSA 8-9, 2-3

Coming up

UTSA at UAB, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.

Notable

A challenging schedule awaits the Roadrunners in the next two weeks. Next week, they play at UAB on Tuesday and at home against Temple on Saturday. The week after that, they’re on the road at Florida Atlantic on Jan. 29 and at North Texas on Feb. 1.