By: Curtis Ford
Box Score GRAMBLING, La. | Jalen Johnson notched an 18-point, 10 rebound double-double in his Grambling State debut, as the Tigers defeated the University of North Texas at Dallas 82-67 on Monday night on Willis Reed Court at the Fredrick C. Hobdy Center.
GSU (1-0) held a double-digit lead for much of the night but fought off a furious late rally by a scrappy UNT-Dallas squad to preserve to win in front of 1,461 home fans.
Johnson was one of many bright spots on offense for GSU (1-0).
Jourdan Smith,
Tra'Michael Moton and
Kintavious Dozier also reached double-figures. Smith added 16 points with four rebounds while Moton scored 15 to go along with five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Dozier contributed 12 with seven rebounds and an assist.
The Trailblazers held a brief lead in the game when it built an early 4-0 lead, but Grambling State quickly erased that, going a 17-2 run to take a 17-6 lead with 13:28 left in the first half.
UNT-Dallas (1-2) trimmed the back to single digits, 29-22, on a Vernon Johnson floater with 6:28 to go in the half. The Tigers once again use a big run to build a cushion. Grambling State outscored the Trailblazers 14-6 to close the half and carry a 43-28 advantage into halftime.
GSU looked as if it would pull away easily in the second, crafting a 58-32 lead, its largest of the game with 13:43 to go. However, UNT-Dallas went on an incredible run, cutting GSU's lead to 65-60 at the 5:02 mark.
That was a close as the Trailblazers would get to the Tigers, as Grambling State put the game away down the stretch.
Grambling shot 40.6 percent from the floor (26-of-64) and 21.4 percent (3-of-14) from 3-point range. UNT-Dallas shot a lower overall percentage from the floor going 22-of-63 from the field (34.9 percent) but shot better than GSU from behind the arc, going 9-of-27 from long range.
The Tigers dominated the boards, holding a 47-33 advantage on total rebounds.
The Trailblazers were led by Kanntrell Burney who posted a game-high 24 points with four rebounds and three assists.
Up Next
Grambling State heads to Boulder, Colo. to take on the University of Colorado on Friday, November 10 at 7 p.m. CST. The game will be broadcast on Pac-12.com.
