SAN MARCOS, Texas – Trailing by eight with 2:44 left to play, Texas State fought back to tie the game with 4.8 seconds remaining but a buzzer-beating layup from Imo Essien gave Old Dominion a 70-68 win Saturday in Strahan Arena.
"It was a game that we felt like we let get away for a number of different reasons. The game doesn't come down to one play, but the one play in particular is the last one. I failed to get our guys in the right position to take away a straight-line drive," said head coach
Terrence Johnson. "We will look at film and see where we could have been better, but that one play is going to stick out in my head. These guys played hard and did most of the things we asked them to do over the course of the game, but we didn't make a couple of plays down the stretch that could have won the game for us.
The loss drops the Bobcats to 12-15 on the season and 5-9 in the Sun Belt Conference while the Monarchs are now 16-10 overall with an 8-6 mark in league play.
Five Bobcats scored in double figures led by
Mason Harrell's 17 on 8-of-15 shooting. He also finished the night with five assists, five rebounds and two steals. The senior guard moved into a tie for sixth in program history in points with 1,430 to match Bruce Featherston (1971-74).
Jordan Mason netted 11 points behind a 4-for-7 performance from the field. The trio of
Nighael Ceaser,
Nate Martin and
Tyrel Morgan scored 10 points each. Martin grabbed a game-high eight rebounds, five of which came on the offensive glass. Morgan knocked down all three of his attempts from beyond the arc, set a new career-high of three blocks and retrieved seven boards.
The first half saw the game tied six times and TXST holding the advantage just twice with the last coming at 16-14 following a dunk by
Davion Sykes.
Down by five coming out of halftime, the Bobcats began the period on an 11-2 run that was capped off by a layup from Harrell that came after Morgan rejected back-to-back shot attempts by ODU's Jason Wade.
The lead would eventually grow to six following an acrobatic layup by Martin off an alley-oop attempt with 13:48 left on the clock.
The Monarchs would follow with a 10-2 run to retake the lead, but only for a shortly.
Davion Coleman converted a layup that hit high off the glass to make it a one-point deficit. After an ODU turnover, Morgan hit his third and final three-pointer of the evening to put Texas State back in front 56-54.
A stretch of 10 straight points for the visitors followed to take an eight-point advantage. The teams twice traded baskets to see the Monarchs keep their lead at eight. The Bobcats' defense stepped up and got shots while big shots came from Harrell and Mason. The freshman guard hit a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 68-65 with 1:14 remaining and Harrell was able to get a tough layup attempt to fall at the 32 second mark to make it a one-point ball game.
TXST was able to force ODU to throw it away on its next possession. Mason would then be fouled with 4.8 seconds left on the clock near midcourt for two free throw attempts. The first rattled in-and-out but he converted the second to tie the game.
Following a timeout, the Monarchs inbounded the ball to Essien. The Texas native was able to drive down the middle of the lane for a layup attempt that bounced a couple of times before falling through as the buzzer sounded.
Next for the Bobcats is their final road trip of the regular season that takes them to the Carolinas. First up is a meeting with App State on Thursday for a 5:30 p.m. CT tip.
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