SAN MARCOS, Texas – A stifling second half defense allowed the Texas State men's basketball team (13-6, 4-3 Sun Belt) to win 58-53 Saturday night over UT Arlington (9-12, 5-5 Sun Belt) in a Blackout game at Strahan Arena in front of a season-high 3,587 fans.
 
The Bobcats fell behind by nine following a Carson Bischoff three-pointer nearly four minutes into the second half. Coming out of the under 16-minute timeout, The Bobcats went on a 21-3 run to take their largest lead of the game with 7:54 showing on the clock at 49-40. Caleb Asberry hit two treys under the scoring stretch and a backed in triple courtesy of Tyrel Morgan capped off the scoring.
 
Mason Harrell converted a layup with seven minutes to go in the game for what would be the last field goal for TXST in the game. The Bobcats' final seven points came at the free throw line while the defense limited the Mavericks to just 11 points.
















UTA jumped out to a 6-0 advantage to start the game before Shelby Adams knocked down a jumper to put Texas State on the scoreboard. The Bobcats would take their first lead of the contest at 13-10 when Dylan Dawson made the first of his two three-pointers in the game with 10:26 to go in the first half.
 
TXST extended its first-half advantage to six with seven minutes until halftime with a Drue Drinnon trey. The Mavs came back to take a 29-26 lead into the break when David Azore converted a three-point attempt with 14 seconds showing on the clock.
 
Asberry scored a team-high 15 points as he knocked down four three-pointers. Both Nighael Ceaser and Isiah Small netted eight points apiece. Small grabbed 10 rebounds for the second time in the last three games to lead all players on the night.
 
The Bobcats' bench tallied 25 points compared to just nine for the visitors. TXST also made nine three-pointers and went 11-for-15 (73.3%) from the charity stripe despite shooting under 40 percent (39.6%) from the field.
 
Next up for TXST is a match up with current Sun Belt Conference leader Appalachian State on Thursday at 7 p.m. inside Strahan Arena.
 
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