LAFAYETTE, La. – Senior Mason Harrell scored a team-high 20 points to help propel the Texas State men's basketball team (16-6, 7-3 Sun Belt) to a road win over Louisiana (10-12, 5-7 Sun Belt) Thursday night in the Cajundome. He totaled 18 points in the second half, of which 15 came in the final eight and a half minutes.
 
Harrell finished 7-of-10 from the field with a made three-pointer and knocked down all five of his free throw attempts. He also dished out five assists to give him 289 in his TXST career and surpass graduate assistant coach Ojai Black for ninth place in program history.
 
A hot shooting start saw the Bobcats make their first seven shots including three from beyond the arc to take a 19-7 lead. However, the offense cooled off and were held scoreless over the next 6:43 that was ended by a free throw from Shelby Adams but allowed the Ragin' Cajuns to take a one-point advantage.
 
Back-to-back three-pointers from Dylan Dawson gave TXST a 26-24 lead with 7:04 to go in the first half. Louisiana scored five straight to retake the lead but the Bobcats answered with a 15-2 run to take a 10-point advantage with two minutes to go in the period.
 
The Cajuns scored the final five points of the half as Texas State held a 41-36 lead after 20 minutes.
 
After Louisiana took a 62-60 advantage, Mason Harrell scored seven of the next 10 points for TXST to go back up by five. Both Caleb Asberry and Isiah Small converted two free throws apiece to put the Bobcats up 74-65 with 3:07 left on the clock.
 
Two big shots from Harrell and Asberry knocking down two charity stripes attempts iced the game as Texas State won for just the third time on the road against Louisiana.
 
Asberry netted 16 points with half coming at the free throw line and recorded three steals. Small tallied 15 points behind three made treys and a 6-for-6 performance at the charity stripe. He also grabbed seven rebounds, got two steals and blocked a shot. Tyrel Morgan came off the bench to score nine points on 4-of-7 shooting and retrieved six boards.
 
Next up for the Bobcats is a Saturday contest at ULM with a tipoff set for 2 p.m.
 
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