ORLANDO, FLA. — Drake saw two shots come up short in the final 10 seconds suffering a 57-54 loss to North Texas in the seventh-place game of the ESPN Events Invitational Sunday.

It was the first meeting between these schools since 1984 when North Texas played in the Missouri Valley Conference.

North Texas advanced to the second round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

Trailing 55-54, the Bulldogs had two opportunities to take the lead in the waning seconds but Tremell Murphy had a shot blocked by Thomas Bell with 10 seconds left. Then following a Drake time out with eight seconds remaining the Bulldogs' Tucker DeVries missed a three-point shot from half court with two seconds left.

Earlier, Murphy's layup with 48 seconds remaining had given Drake its last lead of the game at 54-53.

North Texas came back to grab the lead for good at 55-54 on two free throws by Bell with 23 seconds left and then Adam Scott sealed the victory adding two more free throws with  1.8 seconds.

Murphy led Drake with 13 points. Guard Roman Penn finished with 12 points including seven points in the first half, making all three shots.

Murphy (10) and ShanQuan Hemphill (seven) combined for 17 of Drake's 34 points in the second half.

Trailing 32-25 with 13:02 left in the game, Drake got hot making eight straight shots, including three from Hemphill and two from Murphy, during a five-minute stretch but couldn't break away from the Mean Green.

Using a 9-0 run, North Texas raced to a 20-10 lead with 7:26 left in the first half.

Drake shot 53.5 percent from the floor, including 56 percent in the second half. But North Texas scored 20 points off Drake turnovers and out-rebounded the Bulldogs, 24-21.

The Bulldogs will be out to snap a three-game losing streak when they open the Missouri Valley Conference season Thursday, playing host to Valparaiso in an 8 p.m. tip-off at the Knapp Center.