{"id":5144,"date":"2025-05-20T18:48:34","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T18:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gazellegroup.com\/main\/blog\/2018-champions\/"},"modified":"2025-05-20T18:55:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T18:55:13","slug":"2018-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gazellegroup.com\/main\/blog\/2018-champions\/","title":{"rendered":"2018 Champions"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Texas wins CBI<\/strong>
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

March 30, 2018<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

DENTON, Texas \u2013 Roosevelt Smart scored 25 points and North Texas withstood a strong second half rally by San Francisco to emerge with an 88-77 win to take the decisive Game 3 of the College Basketball Invitational Finals.<\/p>\n

The win marks the first-ever postseason championship for the Mean Green.<\/p>\n

Smart, who was named the Most Valuable Player of the CBI, was clutch for North Texas as he made all 14 of his free throws to help the Mean Green in going 32-of-43 (.744) from the line. The Dons were 19-of-30 (.633) from the charity stripe.<\/p>\n

North Texas led by 11, 38-27, at halftime and increased the lead to 44-31 when Smart made both his free throws with 15:55 to play. That\u2019s when San Francisco mounted its comeback, going on a 20-8 run, capped by Souley Boum\u2019s 3-pointer at 9:33 to cut the lead to 52-51. But that was as close as the Dons would get as the Mean Green went on a 10-1 run over the next 2:16 to make it a 62-52 game.<\/p>\n

For North Texas, Jorden Duffy tallied 14 points, A.J. Lawson and Michael Miller scored 12 points apiece with Miller also pulling down six rebounds, and Ryan Woolridge added nine points and eight assists in the victory.<\/p>\n

San Francisco was led by Frankie Ferrari and his 19 points. Nate Renfro posted 18 points and 11 rebounds and Chase Foster netted 12 points. The Dons played without starting forward Matt McCarthy, who sat out due to concussion protocol. He had been averaging 10.0 points and 9.4 rebounds in the Dons\u2019 previous five CBI games.<\/p>\n

Both teams have plenty to look forward to next season. San Francisco loses Foster but returns everyone else, while North Texas returns all five CBI starters, losing just senior Shane Temara.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

cbi finals game 3 recap<\/h6>\n<\/div>