HARRISONBURG, Va. – Senior guard Drue Drinnon made the second of two free throw attempts and Brandon Love deflected an in-bound pass at midcourt as Texas State hung on for a 63-62 win over James Madison Thursday night at the Atlantic Union Bank Center.
 
The victory was the first for the Bobcats in Sun Belt Conference play, improving to 1-2, and are now 8-8 on the season. The Dukes fall to 11-5 and are now 2-1 in the league.
 
All nine TXST players that saw action scored on the night but only one, Brandon Davis, reached double figures. The junior finished the evening with 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting and made two three-pointers. The closest to joining him in double-digits was Drinnon with nine, eight of which came in the first half.
 
Six Bobcats finished with a team-high four rebounds and Love blocked the team's lone shot of the evening. Texas State forced 17 turnovers with 11 being the result of a steal. Drinnon recorded three swipes and both Mason Harrell and Tyrel Morgan totaled two apiece.
 
As a team, the Bobcats made 25-of-60 shots and had 11 assists. They combined to dish out seven assists in the first two conference games last weekend.
 
The Bobcats held a three-point advantage following a layup from Davis. Eight straight points were scored by the Dukes to go up by five, the largest lead by either team in the opening half, nearly four and a half minutes into the game.
 
Chipping away, TXST eventually went back in front on a triple by Davis. JMU retook the lead but a 9-2 run by the Bobcats that was capped off by Drinnon's second three-pointer of the stanza to put them ahead 25-21 with 4:09 on the clock.
 
Only two more points were netted by Texas State in the half. Those came on a reverse layup courtesy of Davion Sykes at the 1:45 mark. A Takal Molson layup right before the buzzer sent the game into halftime tied at 27.
 
Morgan came out and made the first two baskets of the final 20 minutes to again put the Bobcats in the lead. They would eventually stretch the advantage to eight twice with the last coming on an old-fashion three-point play by Morgan with 12:29 on the clock.
 
The Dukes made six straight buckets in a three-minute span to go on top 53-50 at the 7:44 mark. TXST held the hosts to four shots the rest of the game with only one dropping, that being a layup.
 
With the game tied, JMU's Terell Strickland lost his dribble and the ball was picked up by Nate Martin. Drinnon would drive the lane and be fouled with 3.9 on the clock and making the game-winning charity stripe shot.
 
Next up for the Bobcats is a meeting with South Alabama on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. in Mobile, Alabama.
 
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