DENVER - Sophomore B.J. Pratt (San Antonio, Texas) scored a season-high 29 points and grabbed four rebounds and senior Arthur Ireland (Las Vegas, Nev.) added 16 points and five boards to help the University of Denver men's basketball team to a convincing 100-81 win over Sun Belt Conference opponent North Texas Saturday night at Magness Arena. With the win Denver improves to 10-13 overall, 5-7 in Sun Belt Conference play. North Texas drops to 4-19, 1-11.
The Pioneers opened the contest ice cold; failing to score a point with their first seven possessions while the Mean Green took a commanding, 11-0 lead. Junior Phillip Heath (Seattle, Wash.) came off the bench and drained a 3-point basket with 15:33 left in the first half to end the scoreless drought and spark a 33-10 run over the next nine minutes that gave Denver its first lead of the game at 21-19 with 9:49 to play. Pratt and Ireland accounted for 20 points during that span. The Pioneers kept the momentum rolling late in the half as they built a 16-point advantage, 38-22 with 5:22 left in the half. The Mean Green battled back in the final minutes and cut the Pioneer lead to seven points, 46-39 heading into the recess.
North Texas came out in the second half and fought to keep the game close paced by Chris Davis who tallied 22 points and Bryan Lucas and Josh Richardson who contributed 17 points each. North Texas came to within four at 47-43 with 19:00 left in the game, but would get no closer. Denver's offense, which has scored 90 or more points in the last three outings, proved too much for UNT down the stretch. The Pioneers built their largest lead of the night at 25 points, 90-65 late in the game with 5:22 remaining and maintained pressure throughout.
For the game, Denver shot 52 percent from the floor, out-rebounded North Texas 42-39 and forced 15 UNT turnovers. Pratt collected 25 or more points for the third consecutive game and the Pioneers 100 points were the most since a January 6, 1999 win over Air Force.
Denver returns to action Thursday, February 15 when they travel south to take on Louisiana-Lafayette in a Sun Belt Conference match-up. Tip-off is set for 6:05 p.m.
