There was a BIG TIME basketball game in Denton last night and there were over 7,100 fans at The Super Pit to watch Sun Belt Conference Champions North Texas welcome Big 12 Conference member Texas Tech. It was an exciting evening for the North Texas Basketball team as the Sun Belt Conference Championship Rings were given out to last year's team as well as the Western Division Championship, Sun Belt Conference Championship and NCAA banners were raised. It was an exciting event for all North Texas supporters.

The game proved to be everything it was billed to be. A fast paced game by both teams and a nail-biter to the end. Tristian Thompson proved to be an eraser by forcing two of the Tech players to foul out of the game. George Odufuwa ended up with a double, double. Josh White was Josh White. Kedrick Hogans showed up at the right times to give the team a boost. Shannon Shorter coming in and out of the game at the right times gave North Texas a tough guard situation. Jacob Holmen came in and stepped up at the right times.

Most of the times, the coaches get blamed for everything that goes wrong and no credit for what goes right. In this game, Head Basketball Coach Johnny Jones played the substitution game almost to perfection. When he needed defense he put the right players in, when he needed offense he substituted to the right personnel. When players needed a rest, he got them out at the right times. Simply put, he outcoached Tech's Pat Knight.

But most of all, the fans need to pat themselves on the backs. Any college coach will tell you the fans can account for up to eight or nine points a game. In this game, they accounted for much more than that. When the team got behind, they got louder as if to say to the team, we are behind you, we believe in you. That is something important to all the players and the coaches on the court it is called home court advantage. The fans worked it to perfection. When the Tech fans started to get behind their team, North Texas Fans got louder and drowned them out. The team noticed, the coaches noticed, the media noticed and the opponents noticed. This is BIG TIME basketball at it finest.

Tech got the jump ball to start the game and missed their first shot. At the other end of the court Odufuwa hit a two point shot to give North Texas a 2-0 lead. After Tech scored, White put two points in off the glass for a North Texas 4-2 lead. He extended the lead to 6-2 by hitting a high arc off glass. Tech came back to tie the game. Shorter's layup put North Texas up 8-6 but Tech went ahead on a three point shot. So, with 15.35 left in the first half North Texas was down 8-9.

Out of the timeout, White gave North Texas a 10-9 lead before Tech went up 11-10. Odufuwa powered the ball in giving North Texas a 12-11 lead. Johnson hit a two pointer putting North Texas up 14-11. When time was called at the 11:48 mark North Texas was up 14-13.

Coming out of the timeout neither team could get the ball to go in until about the ten minute mark when Tech hit a three point shot giving them a 16-14 lead. Johnson responded with the first three point shot of the game for North Texas putting them up 17-16. Tech went up by two when Hogans split two Tech defenders at the other end of the court to power the ball in and was fouled. He completed the three point play putting North Texas ahead 20-18. After Tech went ahead in the game, Hogans got the crowd excited when he made a great move to save the ball from going out of bounds. He ended up sitting in a chair while the pass to Holmen ended up in the basket for two points. At the 7:45 mark a timeout was called with North Texas trailing 20-22.

Coming out of the timeout Holmen tied the game at 22-22. Tech went up 26-22 before Holmen hit for two points which was followed by Odufuwa making a layup to tie the game at 26 all. Tech took a five point lead before White answered with a three to close the gap to 29-31. Hogans was fouled making a free throw to trim the lead to 30-31. Tech added four more points before getting a technical foul and with 3:38 left in the half a timeout was called with Tech up 35-30 and Thompson at the line.

Out of the timeout, Thompson missed both free throws. Tech added two more points to push their lead to 37-30 lead. Johnson was then fouled and hit both ends of his free throws followed by White's layup and North Texas was down 34-37 which was the score at the 1:27 timeout.

After the timeout Tech extended their lead before Odufuwa hit a layup and White with two seconds left hit a basket and at halftime North Texas was trailing 39-40.

Tech opened the second half by scoring first and at the 18:51 mark Tech held a 47-39 lead.

.

After the timeout, Odufuwa was fouled and he made both free throws bringing North Texas closer at 41-47. After several fouls by both teams Tech pushed their lead to 49-41 but Hogans responded with a two point layup closing the gap to 43-49. Tech added two and so did Hogans to make it a 45-51 game. Johnson hit a two point shot, was fouled and his charity shot was good making it a 48-51 game. He later hit a three point shot to tie the game at 51. With 11:48 left in the game a timeout was called and the score tied.

Tech took a two point lead before Alonzo Edwards tied the game at 53. Tech pulled ahead by seven before Odufuwa hit a hook shot to make it 55-60. White was fouled closing the score to 57-60 then Shorter's layup brought North Texas to within one at 59-60 but he missed the chance to tie the game after missing a free throw. With 7:51 left in the game North Texas trailed by only one.

Tech extended their lead with a two point shot, Thompson got those back by putting in two free throws. Tech added five points to their lead before White hit for two and North Texas trailed by five, 62-67. Thompson's layup closed the gap to 64-67 and a timeout was called at the 5:22 mark.

Johnson was fouled after the timeout and after hitting both his free throws North Texas was down by one, 66-67. With 3:59 left in the game a timeout was called with North Texas with the ball.

White then gave UNT the lead with a two point shot 69-67. Tech regained the lead before Thompson was fouled and after hitting both free throws North Texas was in the lead 70-68. With 2:56 left in the game, Tech took the lead at 71-70 and timeout was called.

Out of the timeout Thompson went inside missing the shot but he drew the foul. After hitting both free throws North Texas was up 72-71. Tech tied the game after making one of two free throws. North Texas could not get the ball to go down after several shots by several North Texas players. At 1:12 a timeout was called with the score 72-72 and Tech with the ball.

Tech went to the line after a foul and hit one of two shots to take a 73-72 lead. UNT missed a shot which was rebounded by Tech and was forced to foul with 24 second left. Tech hit the first free throw but but missed the second so they were up 74-72. With two seconds left in the game, White hit for two to tie the game in regulation so the game went into overtime.

Overtime started with Tech getting the ball but they could not score. White then hit a three putting the Eagles up 77-74. Tech missed their shot which was rebounded by UNT allowing Thompson to hit an18 footer for a 79-74 lead. Tech missed their shot with Odufuwa getting the rebound and White hit another three pushing North Texas out in front 82-74 and with 3:19 left in overtime a timeout was called.

Tech hit for two and was fouled, they hit the free throw to close to 82-77. Thompson's layup pushed UNT's lead to 84-77 Tech hit a three making it a 84-80 game with 2:11 left and a timeout.

North Texas got the ball in bounds but Thompson turned the ball over. Tech missed their shot and the ball was knocked around before White was fouled going for the ball. He pushed the lead to 86-80 after hitting both free throws. Tech then missed their shot before Odufuwa was fouled. He hit both free throws so North Texas was up 88-80. Hogans was fouled and he hit one of his two free throws extending North Texas' lead to 89-80. Tech was fouled and hit one of two free throws for a 89-81 game. White went to the line and put in one of two free throws allowing North Texas to take a 90-81 lead. Tech went to the line hitting one of two shots making the game 90-82. White was fouled hit both free throws to make 92-82. Tech was fouled hitting the first of two for the final score of 92-83