SAN MARCOS, Texas – Junior forward Isiah Small turned in a career-high 20 points to lead Texas State (3-2) past Jackson State (0-5) 73-58 Monday night at Strahan Arena. The win improves the Bobcats' record to 3-0 when playing in front of the Bobcat faithful this season.
 
"I thought we played pretty good defense," said head coach Danny Kaspar. "Jackson State shot 36.0 percent which was good for us, but we made far too many turnovers and some of them were very careless. Even in the Baylor game, we played good defense and we shot the ball better than Baylor, but we cannot continue to turn the ball over. Our defense is very encouraging, but our offense needs work and we have to take care of the ball better as we go into the tougher parts of our schedule leading up to conference play."
 
BOBCAT NUMBERS
• Texas State shot just under .500 with a .490 clip (24-of-49) from the floor. The Bobcats was 7-of-16 from 3-point range and was 18-of-23 (.783) at the free throw line.
• Small led the Bobcats in scoring for the first time this season and added a team-high eight rebounds and three steals to his stat line.
• Senior guard Nijal Pearson finished with 13 points and added three rebounds and two assists. Pearson has 1,610 career points after Monday's game and needs 13 more points to pass Donte Mathis (1995-99, 1,622 points) to become the third-highest scoring player in the program's history.  
• Sophomore guard Mason Harrell also logged 13 points marking the third time this season he had finished with 10 or more points. Harrell led all players with six assists and pulled down five rebounds. Both statistics match his career-high.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• TXST used a pair of runs to breakaway in the first half. After a 12-2 run to put the Bobcats ahead 34-25, the home team pieced together a 9-1 run for a 40-26 advantage. Texas State ultimately went into the locker room with a 41-29 lead over Jackson State at the half.
• Junior forward Isiah small dominated the half with 18 points and seven rebounds to lead all players. Small was a perfect 3-of-3 from 3-point range and 6-of-7 from the floor.
• Texas State outscored Jackson State 32-29 with the reserves taking the majority of the minutes in the second half.
• The Bobcats opened the second stanza with a 9-0 run to extend their lead to as many as 21 points at 50-29. Jackson State kept pace with the home team in the frame by forcing 11 turnovers but was only able to trim the deficit to 14 points.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Texas State led for 36:37 minutes in the game and shot 50.0 percent or better from the field and behind-the-arc in the first half. They were also 11-of-13 at the charity stripe in the first 20 minutes.
• The Bobcat bench outscore Jackson State 18-12.  
• The Bobcats committed a season-high 18 turnovers that the Tigers turned into 11 points. TXST forced 11 turnovers but was able to get 12 points out of them.
• Although winning the overall rebounding battle 41-26, Jackson State outscored Texas State 13-7 in second-chance points behind 10 offensive rebounds.
• Four Tigers scored in double figures including sophomore Jayveous McKinnis who had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Junior Tristan Jarrett led the team with 18 points, graduate Cainan McClelland had 12 points and junior Jonas James rounded out the top scorers with 10 points.
• Texas State is 2-0 this season vs. the SWAC (75-48 win vs. Prairie View A&M Nov. 12).
 
UP NEXT
Texas State will continue play in the Southwestern Showdown with a late-night game at 9 p.m. CT Nov. 20 at UNLV in the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev.
 
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