Dec. 8, 2009

Final Stats

Game Statistics in PDF Format

Dallas, Texas - Despite career-high performances by J.B. Conley, Tony Bishop and Uriel Segura, the Texas State men's basketball ball team came up short in a pair of second-half rallies as SMU hung on and defeated the Bobcats 94-86 at Moody Coliseum on Monday night.

Conley, Segura and Bishop each scored 18 points for the Bobcats as they led a pair of Texas State rallies in the second half.

SMU jumped out to an early 15-5 lead as Derek Williams and Mouhammad Faye each scored five points on a pair of free throws and a three-point basket by Williams and a jumper and three-point shot by Faye. Those two three-point baskets were a sign of things to come in the opening half as the Mustangs opened the game making 11 of their 16 three-point shots in the opening period.

Williams hit a trey in the period, but Mike Walker and Robert Nyakundi gave the Mustangs a huge boost as they combined to hit seven of their eight three-point shots in the opening half. Walker made all three of his three-point shots and Nyakundi hit four of his five attempts as he finished the opening half with 17 points to lead SMU to a 52-41 lead.

The Mustangs came into Monday night's game having made just 21.7 percent (15-69) of their three-point shots in their first five games, but SMU came out and netted 12 of their 23 three-point attempts in the first half. Walker entered the game 0-5 and Nyakundi was 1-4 in SMU's previous five games.

In the second half, the Mustangs returned to their previous form, making just one of seven (three-point shots, and the Bobcats took advantage.

Texas State's first rally came in the opening minutes of the second half when the Bobcats scored the first nine points in the period to close to within 52-50 on a lay-up by Segura with 18:11 left to play. Segura scored four of the nine points and scored seven of his team-leading total in the first three minutes of the second half.

But The Mustangs outscored the Bobcats 12-5 in the next couple of minutes to extend their lead to 64-55 following a dunk shot by Justin Haynes with 15:15 left to play.

SMU extended its lead to 84-63 with 7:42 left to play when Faye made a pair of free throws. However, Texas State wouldn't go away as Conley and Segura each scored six points and Bishop added five more to lead another rally. Bishop's jumper with 2:57 left pulled the Bobcats to within 86-81.

Texas State couldn't get any closer as Williams made a pair of free throws and a lay-up to make the score 90-82. John Rybak nailed a three-point shot from the left wing to pull the Bobcats within five, 90-85, one last time, but Williams made another two free throws to end the comeback bid.

"I am real proud of the guys who were in there at the end of the game because they had a lot of fight in them and we almost won the game," said Texas State head coach Doug Davalos. "Our guys fought and really believed they could get into the game, and they showed that.

Texas State falls to 3-6 this season following the loss. Williams led the Mustangs with a game-high 21 points, while Nyakundi finished with 19 points and Faye added 15 as SMU evened its record to 3-3 this season.

The Bobcats return to action this Saturday in Austin when they play the second-ranked Texas Longhorns in a nationally televised game by the Longhorn Sports Network and shown throughout the State of Texas on Fox Sports Southwest. In addition, the game will be shown on ESPN Full Court and simulcast on ESPN360.com and ESPN360.com/basketball.