Photo by Tyler Lamb / Sports Editor
Story by Cody Strickler / Staff Writer
Middle Tennessee (13-3, 3-0 C-USA) finished their two-game conference road trip with a 79-68 win against the North Texas Mean Green (6-10, 0-4 C-USA) on Saturday afternoon. MTSU started slowly, but came through with points off the bench.
The Blue Raiders had a total of 21 bench points with North Texas close behind with 20. Middle Tennessee narrowly outscored the Mean Green in points off the bench, but had a greater lead in second-chance, and points in the paint. In the paint, MT had 28, while North Texas had 16. In second-chance points, the Blue Raiders had 16 while NT had just three.
North Texas led in field goal percentage with 47% from the floor while the Blue Raiders shot 42%.
The game had an abundance of fouls resulting in each team having double-digit figures in the free-throw column. There were 39 fouls called, including a technical on North Texas for trying to call a timeout when they had none.
From the free-throw line, Middle Tennessee shot 90% and dominated the Mean Green’s 55%.
Middle Tennessee was led by Giddy Potts with 18 points and six rebounds. JaCorey Williams finished with a double-double of 16 points and ten rebounds, and Reggie Upshaw had 14 points and five rebounds.
MTSU had other players come through tonight from the bench. Brandon Walters scored all of his eight points in the first half. Ed Simpson scored nine points in the second half, all of which were from behind the arc.
The Blue Raiders will return to action on Thursday starting a two-game home stand with the Thundering Herd of Marshall. Tip-off is set at 7 p.m. at Murphy Center.
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