Feb. 16, 2008

Final Stats

SAN MARCOS - The Texas State Bobcats shot a season-high 81 percent from the free throw line, six Bobcats finished in double figures and the team pummeled the Lamar Cardinals on the boards, 46-29. With all the lines in a row for a victory, the Bobcats could not hold off the league-leading Cardinals and fell 90-101 at Strahan Coliseum Saturday afternoon.

Lamar takes its ninth conference win after today's game and improves to 15-8 on the season. Texas State is now 4-7 with the loss and 11-13 overall.

The Bobcats stayed with the Cardinals throughout the opening minutes of the game. At 14:24, Matt Fullenwider's hot hand drained a three pointer to give Texas State a 15-13 lead. Lamar answered with a lay-up to tie the game and over the next five minutes of action doubled the Bobcats points, putting up a 12-6 run.

The Cardinals led by as many as 20 points before heading into half time with a 51-33 advantage over Texas State.

Texas State committed 14 turnovers to Lamar's nine in the opening half, but the Cardinals exchanged the `Cats lost possessions into 18 points. Texas State could only convert the foe's mishaps into five.

Fullenwider was 3-4 from three-point range, while Brandon Bush knocked down seven points at the half to put him well over his 1,000th career-point at Texas State. The team shot 31 percent from the field to Lamar's near 60 percent effort.

The seniority on the Bobcat squad truly shined in the final half of the game. Brandon Thomas and Fullenwider knocked down the first field goals for Texas State to trim the double-digit deficit. At 12:26 Brent Holder emerged from the bench to hit back-to-back three pointers, aiding in his 16-point night. However, Ryan White played with the leadership, posting seven points in the final four minutes of play, starting with rip-and-go possession finished with the easy lay-up for two points. White ended the night with 11 points, nine in the second half.

Texas State came within eight points on four occasions in the second half to threaten a comeback, but could not follow through.

Fullenwider went 6-8 from the field and 5-6 from three-point range in his team-leading performance. Brandon Bush finished with 17 points, notching 1,015 career-points at Texas State. Holder recorded 16 points in tonight's outing off 6-11 in the field and two vital three-pointers. Brent Benson had 11 points and Brandon Thomas chipped in ten points for the `Cats.

Darren Hopkins led the Cardinal with 26 points in the win. Kenny Dawkins went 5-9 from the field and a perfect 4-4 from the arc, while missing just three of his 12 attempts at the stripe for a 23-point night. Four other Cardinals finished in double figures, leaving just three of their nine players with single digit totals.

The Bobcats improved to .429 percent from the field for the game and .333 percent (8-24) from beyond the arc. For the game, Lamar shot .559 from the field and an even fifty percent from the three-point line and .649 from the stripe.

Texas State will hit the road for a mid-week match with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi this Wednesday before returning home to host Texas-San Antonio in the I-35 Maroon vs. Orange rivalry series. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m. starts.