North Texas claims CBI tourney championship behind Smart's 25 points

We have a winner.

The North Texas men's basketball team was crowned champions of the 11th annual College Basketball Invitational Tournament after an 88-77 victory over San Francisco in Friday night's deciding game of the best-of-3 final.

Finals MVP Roosevelt Smart led UNT's effort with 25 points, including a 14-of-14 performance at the foul line. Jorden Duffy, the high scorer in Wednesday's win over the Dons, added 14 points while Michael Miller and A.J. Lawson contributed a dozen points.

It is the first national basketball championship of any kind for the Mean Green, who had never won a postseason basketball game before going on a victory tour that included five wins in six CBI games. San Francisco (22-16) won Monday's first game in California.

Hoops titles are starting to become a familiar occurrence in this area. TCU's men won the NIT last season and Texas Wesleyan's men claimed the NAIA championship a year ago.

UNT (19-18) trailed only once in the game, 17-16, and led 38-27 at halftime. But San Francisco did pull within a point at 52-51 with just under 10 minutes to play.

This story was originally published March 30, 2018 at 8:43 PM with the headline "North Texas claims CBI tourney championship behind Smart's 25 points."