North Texas knew they were facing a tough game when they hosted Denver on Saturday at the Super Pit. With one starter, Chris Jones and one force coming off the bench, Jordan Williams, two of the top scorers out because of grades, Head Coach Johnny Jones had to go to the bench to pull up Tyler Hall to the starter’s role. Jones had been trying to get Tony Mitchell to take charge of the game and to be a “little more selfish”, in this game there was no choice. Another thing Mitchell had to do was to stay out of foul trouble.

With nine players at his disposal, HC Jones had to pull out all his coaching skills and that of his assistant coaches to pull out a win. A loss would set the tone North Texas was giving up and playing out the rest of the season. A win would state North Texas is not giving up and will still battle for the Sun Belt Title.

Hall opened the game by hitting a three and then Mitchell’s two gave North Texas a 5-0 before Denver got their first points of a game on a three point shot. It was one of the nine that went in during the first half for them

Denver took their first lead of the game with 12:52 left in the first half. Roger Franklin gave North Texas a one point lead before Denver answered with a three to give them an 18-16 lead. Mitchell tied the game at 18 all before Denver took the lead on a three point shot and they pulled away to 24-18 lead.

With 7:13 left in the half and Denver up by three, Hall tied the game on a three point shot before Denver was able to pull ahead by six points. They answered any North Texas challenge hitting three pointers. Still, North Texas was able to cut the lead to four at half 39-35.

The second half started out with Franklin cutting into the lead with three points the old-fashioned way, a basket and a free throw. Mitchell carbon copied Franklin with a basket and free throw to give North Texas a 40-39 lead.

With about ten minutes left in the game, the intensity was turned up by both teams. The players were flying everywhere fighting for the ball, going after rebounds, stealing the ball, altering shots and getting turnovers by any means possible.

The two teams traded baskets before Denver recaptured the lead and moved in front by six points. North Texas came back to tie the game at 52 all on a Franklin basket. Franklin then gave North Texas a 54-52 lead after hitting two free throws.

When Mitchell pushed North Texas up 56-52 on a reverse dunk the crowd of about 5,000 were on their feet. North Texas went up by seven points 61-54 before Denver started a comeback with 2:56 left in the game. They hit their first three point shot of the second half to close the gap to 61-57.

Brandon Walton answered with a three to give North Texas another seven point lead. Denver was able to stay within striking distance and with 44 seconds left in the game they hit a three for a 66-62 North Texas lead.

After a timeout was called, Denver got a steal was fouled but got only one free throw to fall. Denver then scored again, was fouled and tied the game 66-66 when they hit the free throw. North Texas called a timeout  with16 seconds left. With one second left in the game, Mitchell tried a three which did not go in forcing the game into overtime.

The overtime period started out with Franklin getting a reverse dunk to get the crowd into the game and giving North Texas a two point lead. Denver tied the game before Franklin gave North Texas a one point lead after hitting one of two free throws. Mitchell stuffed the ball home to give North Texas a three point lead. After hitting two free throws Denver was behind by one with 50 seconds left.

After a timeout, Denver took the lead on a basket but Mitchell’s dunk gave the one point lead back to North Texas. With 15 seconds left Denver hit a basket giving them a one point lead. North Texas played for the last shot, but with one second left the ball bounced off the rim but Alzee Williams got the tip back at the buzzer to give North Texas the 75-74 win. The win was not official for another a minute or so as the officials reviewed to the tape to make sure the Williams put-back was with time on the clock.   

North Texas is in a three way tie for first in the Sun Belt West.

Trey Norris was the only bench player to score for North Texas. Mitchell ended the game with 30 points and 17 rebounds.

While the other players may have had more baskets, rebounds, rejects and won MVP, it was the defensive play of Trey Norris that affected Denver enough to help North Texas to a 75-74 overtime buzzer beater win.