Box Score

Lake Charles, La. -  The Texas State men's basketball team produced an all-out team effort on the court this afternoon in Lake Charles, La., but fell to McNeese State 97-92. The Cowboys remain undefeated at home this season (10-0), and become the only unbeaten conference team left. The Bobcats drop to 6-10, 1-1 SLC, while the Cowboys improve to 11-5, 3-0 SLC.

Leading the Bobcats in scoring was Eddie Rios with 21 points, four rebounds and two steals. J.B. Conley had 17 points and nine rebounds, while Tony Bishop led all players off the bench with 17 points and eight boards. Another outstanding performance this afternoon came from Brooks Ybarra who had a career-high 12 points (3 of 4, 3-Pt FG).

Down by ten points and 4:33 left to go in the game, Conley drained a pair of free throws to bring the score to 80-72. Travis Jones was on fire from the three-point arc hitting back-to-back treys (84-78). His treys sparked a 7-0 run by Texas State to come to within two (84-82) after a jumper by Conley. McNeese State responded with a three-pointer of its own, but Rios fired back with his own trey that saw the game at 89-86 in the Cowboys favor with 1:10 left to go.  A jumper and two free throws by McNeese State gave the Cowboys a seven-point cushion. It wouldn't hold as Rios recorded a quick layup for the Bobcats to come to within five with less than a minute remaining. Both teams would trade points, but it would be McNeese State who finished out on top, 97-92.

Matt Staff scored the first points of the second half with a long range three to tie the game at 42-All. Thanks to a pair of trays by Rios the Bobcats produced a 51-48 lead. A dunk by Ybarra with ten minutes left in the game, trimmed the Cowboys lead to, 57-56.

Texas State got a surge from Conley to start the game, as he scored six of the Bobcats first eight points to help Texas State jump out to an 8-7 lead. The Bobcats led by as many as nine points in the first half after Ybarra drained three treys in a row for Texas State to take a 26-17 lead.

With 0:54 seconds left in the first McNeese State's Stephan Martin nailed a three-pointer to give the Cowboys a 40-38 edge. After both teams traded free throws, McNeese State took a 42-39 lead into halftime.

Stephan Martin led McNeese State with 22 points. Patrick Richard had 20 points and 10 rebounds. Diego Kapelan had 15 points and P.J. Alawoya recorded 10 points and 10 boards.

The Bobcats shot 43 percent from the field 68 percent from the charity stripe. The Cowboys were 48 percent from the floor and 84 percent from the free throw line.

Texas State will return to Strahan Coliseum on Wednesday, Jan. 19 to host Sam Houston State. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. The two teams split the series last season with Sam Houston State winning the first meeting, 95-64, then the Bobcats taking the second game, 101-97.