DENTON, Texas (3/5/08) ? The Arkansas State men's basketball team (10-20) fell 85-63 to North Texas (20-10) Wednesday night at The Super Pit in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

The Indians, a No. 6 seed, trailed by just seven points at halftime, but No. 6 North Texas maintained its hot shooting from the first half to pull away over the final 20 minutes.

The Indians shooting percentage dropped from 52 percent in the first half to 33 percent in the second, while the Mean Green shot above 55 percent in both the first and second half.  North Texas also hit 66 percent of its three-point attempts, while ASU managed to shoot just .250 from beyond the arc.

Leading 43-36 with 17:58 left, North Texas went on a quick 5-0 run to open up a double-figure advantage that it held until less than 10 minutes were left to play.  Trailing 60-46, the Indians went on a 6-0 run to pull back within eight points of the NT lead, but were unable to get any closer.

The Mean Green responded with a 6-0 run of its own to go back ahead by double-figures the rest of the way.

Senior guard Adrian Banks led ASU with a team-high 17 points, while sophomore guard Ryan Wedel added 14.  Junior forward Shawn Morgan led the Indians on the boards with five rebounds.  ASU finished with 27 rebounds to the Mean Green's 37.

The game's first 12 minutes featured six ties in a back-and-forth battle and neither team led by more than four points until North Texas went on a 7-0 run to take a 30-22 lead with 4:40 left in the first half.  The Mean Green built its lead to nine points, 33-24, at the 3:09 mark before taking a 38-31 advantage into the break.

North Texas had four players score in double digits, led by Adam McCoy with a game-high 21 points.  Keith Wooden scored 14 points for the Mean Green and almost finished with a double-double, grabbing nine rebounds as well.