Box Score

San Marcos, Texas– Texas State played its first game against long-time rival UT Arlington as a member of the Sun Belt Conference, falling to the Mavericks 56-48, Saturday afternoon at Strahan Coliseum.

The Mavericks were keyed by a 10-2 run to open the second half, taking a 26-22 deficit and turning it to a 32-28 advantage. Reger Dowell was the top UT Arlington player, scoring 16 points off the bench.

Gordon Ball led the Bobcats Saturday with a career-high 10 points and had seven rebounds. Ball was 5-of-7 from the field and had a block from behind in the second half as part of a 6-1 Texas State run, cutting the deficit from 43-36 to 44-42 with 4:23 to go.

Right before the half, the Bobcats caught fire from beyond the arc. After trailing most of the half, Joel Wright hit a three with the shot clock expiring and Phil Hawkins followed it up with a three off a screen to give Texas State its first lead of the game at 24-22. That would be the final bucket of the first half as the Bobcats took the two-point advantage into halftime.

Texas State overcame some early adversity after trailing 10-2 in the first five minutes of the game. The Bobcats responded with a 8-0 run to tie the game up at 10-10 with 12:11 to go in the first half. During the stretch, the team distributed the ball as five players each had two of the team's first 10 points.

Texas State will next hit the road for a one-game roadtrip to UALR, Thursday at 7:05. The game can be heard on KTSW 89.9 FM and www.txstatebobcats.com