HOT SPRINGS, Ark.—Tristan Thompson scored 19 points, and North Texas defeated Denver 63-56 in the Sun Belt Conference semifinals Monday night.
George Odufuwa added 16 points and Josh White had 14 for the Mean Green (23-8), who will face top-seeded Troy in the title game Tuesday.
“The goal is to get to the NCAA tournament,” said Odufuwa, who also had 13 rebounds and three blocks. “We can’t celebrate yet.”
Nate Rohnert led the Pioneers (19-13) with 16 points. Chase Hallam scored 13, and Brian Stafford had 12.
After trailing by eight at halftime and by 10 early in the second half, Denver cut the margin to 45-42 with 8:20 left and 46-45 with 6:48 to play. Both times the Pioneers missed shots that would have tied the score or given them the lead.
“Their good was a little better than our good. I would say we missed 10 to 12 layups tonight. You just can’t do that,” Denver coach Joe Scott said.
White then scored seven points during a 9-1 run by North Texas.
“Josh has done that a lot for us. Down the stretch he did play strong,” Mean Green coach Johnny Jones said.
Denver led 13-6 early but went cold at the 13:41 mark of the first half. The Pioneers did not score for seven minutes as the Mean Green built a 20-16 lead. North Texas was up 31-23 at halftime and never lost the lead.
