Even when the shots weren’t falling and North Texas was shooting 70 percent from the field in the early going, there was some arithmetic going on in favor of the Denver Pioneers.
The question was whether DU’s arithmetic would add up to be enough to overtake an early 11-3 deficit. It was as the Pioneers turned on the afterburners in the second half and rolled to an 80-67 triumph Saturday over the defending Sun Belt Conference champion Mean Green at Magness Arena.
DU, which improved to 11-10 overall and 7-1 in conference play to maintain its lead in the West Division, finished with a healthy 27-9 advantage in points off the bench, an 18-10 edge in assists and an 4-0 advantage in blocked shots.
But there wasn’t a bigger factor than the 18 points the Pioneers scored off 12 North Texas turnovers, compared with five points on six DU turnovers for the Mean Green (16-6, 5-4).
“Denver did an excellent job feeding off of our turnovers,” North Texas coach Johnny Jones said. “When we didn’t contain the ball well and tried to help defensively, they kicked the ball off and got open shots. They made us pay.”
DU coach Joe Scott credited an upturn in his team’s play as the game went along.
“We learned that games aren’t won in the first four minutes,” Scott said. “We played extremely well on both ends of the court in the second half. It wasn’t one player, it was everybody.”
The Pioneers picked it up offensively in the last 8:26 of the game. Guard Brian Stafford, who finished with a game-high 21 points, started a 13-4 surge with one of his five 3-pointers as DU opened a 68-53 lead with 5:11 to play.
The lead remained in double figures the rest of the way.
“We shot the ball pretty well in the second half,” Stafford said of his team’s 55.8 percent field-goal shooting. “They have three really good 3-point shooters, and we didn’t pay enough attention to them early on. We had extra focus on defense and they got only one 3-pointer in the second half.”
The little things added up.
NORTH TEXAS (16-6, 5-4 SUN BELT)
Odufuwa 5-7 4-4 14, Hogans 3-6 0-0 6, White 3-8 7-10 15, Thompson 3-6 4-4 13, Shorter 4-5 2-3 10, Johnson 3-5 1-3 7, Knox 0-0 0-0 0, Holmen 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 22-41 18-24 67.
DENVER (11-10, 7-1)
Coughlin 0-1 0-0 0, C. Hallam 4-7 3-5 13, Stafford 6-10 4-4 21, Thalken 3-4 4-4 13, T. Hallam 3-7 0-0 6, Noonan 4-4 0-0 10, K. Lewis 0-2 2-2 2, Udofia 4-8 7-10 15. Totals 24-43 20-25 80.
Halftime — DU 39-34. 3-point goals — NT 5-7 (Thompson 3-3, White 2-3, Shorter 0-1), DU 12-26 (Stafford 5-8, Thalken 3-4, Noonan 2-2, C. Hallam 2-4, Coughlin 0-1, K. Lewis 0-1, Udofia 0-2, T. Hallam 0-4). Fouled out — Thal-ken. Rebounds — NT 24 (Odufuwa 11), DU 20 (Udofia 8). Assists — NT 10 (Thompson 3), DU 18 (Udofia 5). Total fouls — NT 19, DU 21. A — 3,208.
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
