The University of Denver men’s basketball team narrowly lost to the North Texas Mean Green and the Florida International University Golden Panthers 69-62 and 59-57 during their two-game southern road trip to Denton, Texas, and Miami this past weekend.
The Pioneers (7-10, 2-4 SBC) blew a 21-point first-half lead to lose in dramatic fashion to the Mean Green (10-7, 3-3 SBC) on Thursday night. After dominating the first half, shooting 61.9 percent from the field, the Pioneers closed out the half with a 39-22 lead. In the second half the roles were reversed, with the Mean Green outscoring the Pioneers 47-23.
In the first eight minutes of the half, the Mean Green embarked on a 21-7 scoring frenzy, cutting the Pioneers’ lead to three points at 46-43 with 11:37 remaining. Denver’s attempt at a rebuttal was short-lived; after a pair of layups pushed DU’s lead back to seven, the North Texans responded with a 13-0 scoring run, quelling any remaining hope for a Pioneer victory.
“For the third straight road game, we gave ourselves the opportunity to win, but we just have not gotten over that hurdle,” head coach Joe Scott said of the Pioneers’ loss. “I am happy with our consistency, but we need our players to be unhappy about the end results and do something to change them. Like always, the home team did not go away, so you have to give credit to North Texas for fighting back in the second half.”
Freshman guard Brian Stafford and junior captain Nate Rohnert led the Pioneers with a game-high 15 points each, while the Mean Green’s Collin Dennis led North Texas with 14 points.
If it serves as any consolation, the Pioneers continued to twinkle the twine, shooting 57.9 percent (22 of 38) from the field in the game, compared to the meager 42.6 percent (20 of 47) by the Mean Green.
Additionally, the Denver men reclaimed the lead in Sun Belt Conference free throw shooting at 74.1 percent (200-of-270). The Pioneers, led by Rob Lewis’ 82.6 percentage, now rank 28th in the nation from the charity stripe.
In the final game of their road trip, the Pioneers lost a heartbreaker in the final seconds to the Golden Panthers of Florida International University (8-12, 3-4 SBC).
With only nine seconds remaining, Florida International guard Michael Dominguez sank two free throws to break a tie ballgame, and with it, the Pioneers’ spirits Saturday night at the U.S. Century Bank Arena in Miami.
Rohnert led the Pioneers with 17 points, while redshirt freshman forward Andrew Hooper and Stafford added 15 and 11 points, respectively.
“We gave ourselves a chance to win for the fourth-straight game on the road, but we just have not gotten over that hurdle,” Scott said. “We’re obviously developing the necessary consistency to be successful on the road. However, today we turned the ball over too many times, and you can’t win on the road if you do that. FIU did the things they needed to do, and that was reflected on the scoreboard.”
In a game that featured 13 ties and 13 lead changes, both teams traded baskets for much of the game, with the largest lead of the first half being the Golden Panthers’ four-point advantage at 29-25 to close the first half.
As for the second half, the Pioneers gained the largest lead of the night when freshman guard Sabatino Chen drained a three-pointer with roughly five minutes remaining to make the score 57-51. After Chen’s trey-bomb, the Denver men went scoreless for the rest of the game, allowing Florida International to rally to victory.
While DU dropped both of its road games this past week, it is important to note that these games were close: victory was imminent, almost palpable.
After easily building a 21-point lead in the first game and losing in the final seconds on Saturday, the Denver men proved that their NCAA record 41-game road-losing streak will soon become a phantom of statistical lore.
The Pioneers return home for their annual ‘Pack The House’ game Saturday. Denver will take on last year’s NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 team and SBC rival Western Kentucky at 7 p.m. in Magness Arena.
