HARRISONBURG, Va. – Sophomore guard Coleton Benson scored a season-high 19 points, all of which came over the last 10 minutes of the contest, of the Sun Belt Conference opener on Saturday that saw Texas State (6-7, 0-1 Sun Belt) fall 82-65 to No. 20 James Madison (13-0, 1-0 Sun Belt) from the Atlantic Union Bank Center.
 
Benson finished 5-of-8 from the field, 4-for-6 on three-pointers and knocked down all five of his free throw attempts. He ended up scoring 19 of the Bobcats' 25 points in the game.

"Tough game all the way around. We struggled to get a rhythm on the offensive end and we weren't connected on the defensive end," said head coach Terrence Johnson. "Credit JMU they're an excellent team and extremely well coached. We have to get back to the drawing board and address some things before our next contest. "
 
Also finishing in double-figures was Kaden Gumbs with 14 points as he made 6-of-12 shot attempts. He also finished with five rebounds and three assists.
 
TXST's leading rebounder was Chris Nix with seven, four coming on the offensive glass. The forward also finished with two blocks and a steal.
 
Christian Turner opened the scoring in the game with a hook shot in the pain on the opening possession. That would be the Bobcats' lone lead of the game as the Dukes would score the next nine points.
 
A Gumbs three-pointer at the 4:02 mark would cap off a 9-2 run for TXST that pulled the team to within 25-24. However, 11 of the final 15 points would be netted by JMU to take an eight-point advantage into halftime.
 
The Dukes continued the scoring over the first eight minutes of the second half as they began the period on a 15-2 run. The lone basket for the Bobcats in that time was a mid-range jumper courtesy of Jordan Mason.
 
An 11-2 scoring burst by Texas State saw the first five points be scored by Gumbs. Elijah Tate and Benson would follow with three-pointers on back-to-back treys. The run would pull the Bobcats to within 13 with 9:49 left on the clock but that would be as close as they would get the rest of the way.
 
Next up for the Bobcats is the conference home opener on Thursday, Jan. 4 against Coastal Carolina at 7 p.m. from inside Strahan Arena.
 
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