MOBILE, Ala. – Despite going nearly five and a half minutes without scoring late in the second half, Texas State (9-8, 2-2 Sun Belt) held on for a 64-58 win over South Alabama (7-9, 1-3 Sun Belt) on Saturday afternoon in the Mitchell Center. The Bobcats closed out the game going 5-for-6 at the line with three of the made charity stripe attempts coming from
Nate Martin.
The senior forward led the team with 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting and made five free throws. He also grabbed four rebounds, dished out two assists and recorded two steals. Also reaching double-digits was
Mason Harrell with 12 points.
Setting career-highs in rebounds (10) and steals (4) was
Tyrel Morgan. He also totaled eight points and had two assists.
Brandon Love also finished the day with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting.
The Bobcats' defense held the Jaguars to a 1-for-9 performance shooting to open the game. That allowed them to take a 13-3 lead on
Brandon Davis' three-pointer at the 13:02 mark. Five straight points from the hosts cut the advantage in half. It would be their only run of the opening stanza.
Limiting USA to two offensive rebounds in the first half allowed TXST to eventually stretch its advantage to 15. A three-pointer by Tyrell Jones made it 33-21 with 37 seconds left in the period. A pass to Morgan saw the forward pass out to Dure Drinnon, who nailed a trey from deep as the horn sounded to send the Bobcats into the break again leading by 15.
Texas State maintained a double-digit lead for almost the first 15 minutes of the second half. The Jaguars were able to get stops defensively and slowly chipped away as it used a 12-0 run to get with one at the 1:21 mark. Drinnon drove and dished it off to Morgan, who laid it in with 50 seconds to play to give TXST breathing room.
Martin was fouled and went to the line for a 1-and-1 after USA missed two triple attempts on the earlier possession. The junior converted both of his attempts to extend the advantage to five. Following a quick layup, Martin was again fouled to shoot another 1-and-1. He made the first but the second was off the mark. Morgan was able to get to the ball and eventually the ball got to Harrell, who was fouled and closed out the game by making both free throws.
Next up for the Bobcats is a road game against Arkansas State on Thursday for a 7 p.m. tip.
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