DENTON, Texas – Louisiana Tech was able to erase a big 19-point deficit on the road at North Texas, but the Bulldogs came up short in their comeback bid as they narrowly fell 63-59 to the Mean Green on Thursday night inside the Super Pit.
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LA Tech (11-4, 1-1 C-USA) had its seven-game winning streak come to an end, in large part to not being able to fully overcome a tough start that got themselves down by its largest deficit of the season.
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North Texas (14-1, 2-0 C-USA) made 10 straight field goals during a stretch to quickly build a 30-11 lead with 7:22 to play in the first half. However, LA Tech was able to slice that deficit down to 12 at the midway point, down 35-23 at halftime.
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The Bulldogs continued to chip away going into the second half.Â
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Junior
DaQuan Bracey ended up doing a lot of the chipping, hitting his second three-pointer (team only made three total) and following that up with a steal that led to a putback layup by sophomore
JaColby Pemberton to be down just six and force a UNT timeout with 13:27 to go.
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LA Tech was knocking on the door to retake the lead on multiple occasions, trying to go ahead for the first time since the 17:03 mark in the first half.Â
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The 'Dogs got to within one at 47-46 but the Mean Green's Ryan Woolridge made two contested layups to put the home team back up by five.Â
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Later on, the visitors made another run by scoring seven straight points via a triple from sophomore
Amorie Archibald, a fastbreak dunk by sophomore
Anthony Duruji and a made free throw by junior
Ra'Shawn Langston to get the deficit down to one point yet again with 4:17 to play.Â
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Langston missed the second free throw which would have tied it. And the missed free throws proved crucial all night.Â
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After back-to-back three-point plays by Pemberton and Bracey, both making their free throws after the layup and the foul, LA Tech was able to tie it up at 58-58 with 1:32 to go.
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Junior
Oliver Powell had a chance at the foul line on the Bulldogs next offensive possession to give them the lead. However, he was only able to make one to tie it up at 59-59. From there, Bracey misfired on two hard driving shots and the Mean Green were able to get a layup and two free throws from Jorden Duffy in the closing seconds.
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Bracey finished with a game-high 22 points, the fourth time this season he has recorded 20+ points in a single game. The only other Bulldog in double figures was Pemberton with 11 as the team was limited to 38 percent shooting (22-58) from the field) while missing 11 free throws.
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Despite the hot start, North Texas was held to its second fewest points of the season (scored 30 points in the first 13 minutes, scored 33 points in the final 27 minutes). Zachary Simmons ended with a team-high 16 points as the Mean Green shot 45 percent from the field (24-53) and were held to only five three-pointers after entering the game averaging 10 a game.
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LA Tech will now head to Houston to battle Rice on Saturday, Jan. 5. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. and will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
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