JONESBORO, Ark. – The Texas State men's basketball team (10-8, 3-2 Sun Belt) battled to a 61-58 win against Arkansas State (9-9, 1-4 Sun Belt) Thursday night in the First National Bank Arena. It was the Bobcats' third consecutive win with all of them coming on the road.
"I'm proud of my guys. We're growing, understanding how to lead and follow, and how to move on to the next play," said head coach
Terrence Johnson. "We weren't perfect tonight but we were resilient. I thought our freshmen stepped up in a major way tonight. Great road win for us. A total team effort!
Mason Harrell was the lone TXST player to reach double-digits with 15 points with 11 coming in the second half. He made 4-of-9 shots with two three pointers and went 5-for-6 at the charity stripe. His five rebounds matched his season-high for the eighth time and were tied for the team-high on the evening with
Tyrel Morgan, who netted all nine of his points in the final 20 minutes.
Jordan Mason played a season-high 33 minutes on his way to scoring seven points behind going 2-for-3 from the field and charity stripe. He also totaled four rebounds, one assist and one steal.
Drue Drinnon dished out a game-high five assists and recorded all seven of his points in the first half.
The Bobcats got 19 points from the bench led by eight from
Davion Sykes as he converted 3-of-6 field goal attempts.
Nighael Ceaser tallied six points and four rebounds in his return to the court. Leading the way with two blocks was
Nate Martin.
After Drinnon opened the scoring with a three-pointer from the left corner, the Red Wolves went on a 7-0 run. Texas State answered with six straight points behind a layup and two free throws courtesy of Sykes.
The Bobcats would eventually take their largest lead of the half at 20-15 following a
Brandon Davis trey. ASU retook the momentum as it netted seven straight points to go back in front. TXST ended the half scoring eight of the final 10 points including a buzzer beating layup from Drinnon. It was the second game in-a-row in which the senior guard hit a shot right before the clock hit zero in the opening stanza.
An 8-0 run in 1:03 gave the Bobcats their largest advantage to 39-29 with 16:21 left on the clock in the game. However, the Red Wolves answered again with eight consecutive points of their own. The scoring drought was ended for TXST when Mason hit a pull-up jumper in the paint.
The closest Texas State would allow ASU to get the rest of the game three following a three-pointer from Terrance Ford, Jr. with 2.1 showing on the clock.
Next up for TXST is a road game against ULM on Saturday to wrap up the four-game road swing. Tip is at 2 p.m. inside Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
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