SAN MARCOS, Texas – Up by three with less than a minute to go,
Ojai Black hit an 18-footer with 17.8 to play and sunk a free throw six seconds later to seal the Texas State men's basketball team's 61-57 victory over UL Lafayette Saturday in Strahan Coliseum. The win was the first ever for the Bobcats over the Ragin' Cajuns.
Texas State improves to 11-13 overall and 5-10 in the Sun Belt Conference while ULL drops to 14-11 on the season and 10-6 in conference play.
Emani Gant opened the second half with a jumper to give the Bobcats their largest lead of the game at 16. The Cajuns were able to chip away at their deficit and pull to within single digits for good on a three-pointer from Hayward Register with 10:13 to play.
ULL eventually cut Texas State's advantage to two thrice, the first being 49-47 with just under seven minutes to play. Gant responded on the next possession with an old-fashion three-point play after being fouled making a reverse layup.
A trey with 89 seconds to go in the game made it 57-55 in favor of the Cats. Gant converted the front end of a 1-and-1 the next time down the court and Black hit his dagger with under 18 seconds to go. After a quick layup from Jay Wright, Black sunk the front end of a 1-and-1 for the final points of the game.
The Ragin' Cajuns were able to get two shots off before the final horn sounded but, like most of the game, could not find the bottom of the basket.
Down 4-2 after the Cajuns got a layup just over two minutes into the game, the Bobcats went on a 20-2 run behind six points from Black. Montalvo capped the scoring stretch with a three-pointer at the 10:37 mark.
ULL was able to cut its deficit to 10 late in the first half with six quick points in less than a minute. Texas State's defense stepped up and held the visitors to just a point over the final 3:39 while the team scored five to take a 37-23 lead into halftime.
Gant led the Bobcats with 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting and going 7-for-9 at the charity stripe. Both he and
Cameron Naylor grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
Black netted 14 points to tie his career-high with a 5-for-9 shooting performance and sunk 4-of-6 free throws. The senior points guard dished out four assists and led the squad with two steals.
Defensively, the Bobcats blocked a season-high eight shots spread out among seven players. Naylor was the lone player to record multiple rejections with two. They allowed ULL to shoot just 29.0 percent (18-of-62) from the field, the Cajuns lowest this season, and the 57 points is tied for the lowest output.
Preseason SBC Student-Athlete of the Year Shawn Long was held in check by the Texas State big men, scoring seven points and grabbing nine rebounds after coming in averaging 19.3 points and 13.1 rebounds per game. Johnathan Stove scored a team-high 14 points for ULL and Bryce Washington recorded a double-double of 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Texas State hits the road for the final three away contests of the season. First up is Arkansas State on Thursday at 7:35 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN3.
