LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Trailing by 11 in the second half, the Texas State men's basketball team was able to take its lone lead in the second half with 3:11 on the clock. However, Little Rock would score nine straight points on its way to claiming a 71-66 contest Monday night at the Jack Stephens Center.
 
"Little Rock is a hard nose team. They did a good job of turning us over tonight. I'm proud of the fight we showed," said head coach Terrence Johnson. "We definitely need to clean up some of our turnovers and work on executing down the stretch."
 
The Bobcats dominated on the boards as they outrebounded the Trojans 53-31. It was the most rebounds in a game against a Division I opponent since grabbing 56 in a triple overtime contest at UT Arlington on Feb. 28, 2020. TXST also had a 21-10 advantage on the offensive glass but only scored 14 second chance points to the hosts' 13.
 
Brandon Love recorded his first career double-double with 13 points and a career-high 10 rebounds, six of which were on the offensive end. Joshua O'Garro came off the bench to score a team-high 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting and retrieved eight boards. Dontae Horne added 12 points while dishing out a team-high four assists and finishing with seven rebounds.
 
Coming just shy of a double-double was Tyrel Morgan. The fifth-year senior scored nine points and grabbed eight boards. Both Dylan Dawson and Christian Turner finished with six boards each.
 
An early 4-1 advantage was taken by the Bobcats with the first points of the season coming on a floater from freshman Kaden Gumbs while Brandon Love knocked down a jumper in the paint. It would be short-lived as the Trojans took a 13-point lead with a 15-1 run.
 
TXST was able to stifle the host's offense over the finale two and a half minutes to cut the deficit to four following a three-pointer courtesy of Dontae Horne with 10 seconds left in the period.
 
The first six points of the second half were netted by Little Rock to extend their advantage back to double digits. A jumper by Horne at the 13:54 mark kicked started an 8-0 run for the Bobcats that cut the deficit to three. The final six points of the scoring stretch were netted by Joshua O'Garro.
 
Little Rock would again stretch its advantage to 10 with just over nine minutes to go. A jumper in the pain from Tyrel Morgan was the start of a 13-2 run that saw the final seven come from Donte Horne to give the Bobcats a 60-59 lead.
 
It would take just 24 seconds for the Trojans to retake the lead on an old-fashion three-point play and they wouldn't relinquish it for the rest of the game. Three-pointers from Dylan Dawson and Tyrel Morgan would be the lone baskets for TXST over the final three minutes.
 
Next up for the Bobcats is a trip to take on Miami (OH) on Saturday in the MAC-SBC Challenge. Tip is scheduled for 10 a.m. CT.
 
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