SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State completed its third Sun Belt Conference regular-season sweep as they handed ULM a 61-57 loss Saturday afternoon at Strahan Arena. This season sweep is the fourth overall for the 2020-21 conference champions as they have multiple wins against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (two games), Little Rock (four games), UT Arlington (two games) and ULM (four games).   

It is the third consecutive season that the Bobcats (18-6, 12-3 Sun Belt) achieved double-digit conference victories and the fourth time over five years.  

Despite resting their leading scorer Mason Harrell, the Bobcats stayed true to their identity and held the Warhawks (7-18, 5-13 Sun Belt) under 60 points after keeping them below 50 points the previous night. TXST is 11-0 this year when keeping its opponent below 60 points (9-0 in Sun Belt) and 10-0 (7-0 in Sun Belt) when their opponent shoots below 40.0 percent from the field. ULM recorded a 37.3 field goal percentage in this game. Offensively, the Bobcats shot 43.2 percent from the floor (19-of-44) and 46.7 percent from the 3-point line (7-of-15), and for the second consecutive game, the home team shot over 50.0 percent from the field (57.1%) and behind-the-arc (80.0%) in the second half.   

"The staff did an amazing job over the last few games and deserve all the credit," said interim head coach Terrence Johnson, who is at the end of his COVID-19 quarantine. "The staff stepped up and the players were humble, coachable, and brought the culture every single night."

Junior guard Caleb Asberry dropped 19 points and had seven rebounds to lead the Bobcats. Asberry was also a perfect 8-of-8 from the free-throw line, marking a new season-high in made free throws. Junior forward Nighael Ceaser was next with eight points, including the go-ahead bucket to seal the game, and added four rebounds. Sophomore guard transfer Addison Wallace also added a team-high seven rebounds. His seven rebounds are a new season-high for the Collin College transfer. 

Senior guard Josh Nicholas led ULM with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including three 3-pointers, and added three rebounds, one assist, and one block. Junior guard Koreem Ozier followed with 13 points three assists, two rebounds, and two steals.  

FIRST HALF
ULM held a 7-5 advantage by the first media timeout, but the Bobcats responded with an 8-0 run to take an 18-10 lead with 10:52 on the clock. It was all Warhawks after that, however as they ended the half on a 19-5 run, highlighted by 13 unanswered points, and went into halftime with a 29-23 lead. TXST shot 30.0 percent from both the floor (7-of-23) and the 3-point line (3-of-10) but was 6-of-6 from the stripe. Asberry led the team with seven points, followed by six points from freshman guard Deuce Guidry who knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the half. Wallace led all players with six rebounds.  

SECOND HALF 
Texas State opened the half with a 10-0 run that expanded to 17-4, giving them a 40-33 lead at the 13:16 mark. The home team still had a seven-point 49-42 advantage when ULM called a timeout with 7:27 left on the clock. The Warhawks chipped away at the Bobcat lead though and used an overall 12-3 run to take a 56-55 lead with 1:12 left to play. Following a timeout, TXST came down the court and found Ceaser on the block where he went to work made the go-ahead jump shot with 50 seconds remaining and Small picked off Gonzales' pass on the other end. From there it was a free-throw shooting contest for Ceaser and the Houston native shot 4-of-5 to seal the game 61-57.      

UP NEXT
Next up is the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Pensacola, Fla. The Bobcats are the No. 1 seed in the West Division and will play at 8 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 6 at the Pensacola Bay Center. Their opponent will be the winner between the No. 4 seed in the East Division and the No. 5 seed in the West Division. The Bobcats will head into the conference tournament with a seven-game winning streak.

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