North Texas faced Loyola-Marymount in the final game of the DoubleTree Westside Los Angeles Classic on the LMU Campus. North Texas went into the final game of the classic 1-1 after a loss to Columbia on Saturday and win against La Sierra on Friday. The Lions were heading into the game with the same 1-1 record after beating La Sierra on Saturday after losing to Columbia on Friday.

LMU looked to be the favorite in the game since they had two wins over top 25 teams and a 5-3 record with North Texas struggling and a 2-5 record.  The Lions forced 45 turnovers in the first two games and it looked like they had a chance to extend that number facing North Texas.

North Texas Head Basketball Coach Johnny Jones had a daunting task in front of him. His team was talented but young, inconsistent and not playing well together.  Simply put, they were turning the ball over and shooting horribly.

In the end, Jones coached his team to an important 76-63 win over LMU and the team did it with fundamentals. They turned the ball over only four times and that was the lowest turnover number since the 1993 season. LMU normally is good in preventing turnovers but the North Texas defense was up to the task forcing 16 LMU turnovers a season high. The result was North Texas garnered a 16 to 7 point advantage on the scoreboard.

North Texas outrebounded LMU 36-32 with a 15-7 advantage on offensive rebounds.

The score changed several times during the first half but at the 4:09 mark left in the half after Niko Stojiljkovic hit two free throws, North Texas never trailed.

Several times during the second half of the game LMU closed down on North Texas but never were able to tie or take the lead.

Chris Jones nailed 22 points, the highest for either team followed by Jordan Williams with 17 points and seven rebounds.

North Texas hit 41.2%, 28-68 from the floor and 85% from the line getting 17 of 20 to fall.

After going 2 of 3 from the tournament, North Texas returns home with a 3-5 record and LMU falls to 5-4.

Next up for North Texas will be Sam Houston State at the Super Pit on Dec 10^th which is the beginning of a seven game home stand including a game against SEC Powerhouse LSU.