SAN MARCOS, Texas – For the second straight season against Rice, Mason Harrell had a 20-point performance but the Texas State men's basketball team fell 83-71 Sunday afternoon in Strahan Arena. Harrell totaled 23 points on the day with 15 coming in the second half.
 
With the loss, the Bobcats fall to 5-4 while Rice improves to 6-2.
 
"When you have an opportunity to get back to Strahan Arena it is a blessing. We have been on the road and as they say been around the world and back again. You have to give credit to Rice and coach Pera. He had a phenomenal game plan and thought they did an excellent job putting us in rotations all night and looking for scoring opportunities from the perimeter," said head coach Terrence Johnson. "It is a game of making shots and they did that tonight while we didn't do much to deter them. We got some things we need to get better at and get back to the drawing board. I look forward to watching film on the game and breaking it down."
 
The only other player to reach double-figures for Texas State was Drue Drinnon with a season-high 11 points. He went 2-for-3 from beyond the arc and was 5-of-6 at the free throw line. The senior guard also recorded a team best three assists.
 
Brandon Love added nine points and Tuongthach Gatkek contributed eight off the bench. In his first action of the season, Nighael Ceaser finished with four points and rebounds in 14 minutes. Davion Sykes led all Bobcats with seven rebounds and two steals.
 
TXST never led in the game as the Owls scored the first five points and never looked back. The closest the Bobcats got was 5-4 on a Harrell pull-up jumper in the paint at the 17:53 mark of the opening stanza.
 
In the second half, the visitors went up by 20 with 10:18 left in the game. Texas State battled over the next six minutes and cut the deficit to 69-60 following a jumper from Sykes. Rice closed out the game going 11-for-12 at the charity stripe.
 
Next up for the Bobcats is a match up against former conference rival UT Arlington on Saturday. The game will be played in Fort Worth in Dickies Arena with a 6:30 p.m. tip.
 
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