Denton, Texas – Mississippi Valley's men's basketball team lost a non-conference thriller 87-74 to The Mean Green of the University of North Texas.

Marcus Romain paced the Delta Devils with 19 points, eight rebounds, four steals, two assists and one block; while Damian Young added 18 points, six rebounds, four steals and two assists. Latrell Love tallied 15 points and five rebounds for Mississippi Valley.

Both, MVSU and UNT were unable to land baskets on their first possessions of the contest. With, one minute and thirty ticks off the game clock, Michael Matlock landed a layup, for the first points of the contest on a pass from Romain. Deckie Johnson for North Texas missed a three pointer, Isaac Williams pulled down a defensive rebound for the Delta Devils. Matlock's jump shot put Mississippi Valley up 4-0 with 18:00 remaining in the first half.

UNT went on a 5-0 run before all scoring came to a halt between 17:31 and 16:06, it was here Romain tipped the ball up for two; Damian Young was credited with the assist. Johnson responded with a three pointer for The Mean Green, to take the lead by one. In the final minutes of the first, North Texas was able to build a sizable lead going into the halftime break, leading 45-26.

MVSU opened the second half with baskets by Romain and Love to close the point deficient. The final half was a furious back and forth pace between two strong units, however Mississippi Valley outscored North Texas 46-42.

As a team the Delta Devils finished with 17 offensive rebounds, 26 defensive rebounds for a total of 43. The team landed 27 field goals for a 37.5 percentage and 76% from the charity stripe. MVSU was able to keep turnovers to a minimum, only giving up 10 for the contest.

Mississippi Valley will be back in action after the Christmas holiday, when they travel to sunny Honolulu, Hawai'i, to take on The University of Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors on December 29.