PENSACOLA, Fla. – Texas State crawled back from a 14-point deficit to pull within two down the stretch, but the Bobcats' magical run in the 2023 Hercules Tires Sun Belt Basketball Championship came to an end on Sunday with a 64-58 loss to Louisiana in the semifinals at the Pensacola Bay Center.
 
The Bobcats (16-19, 6-12 Sun Belt), who played four games in six days and became the first double-digit seed to ever reach the Sun Belt tournament semifinals, trailed by 14 with 15 minutes to go in the game, but with an 8-0 run midway through the second half and then a 6-0 burst that resulted in a 58-56 deficit with 1:35 remaining, Texas State crawled within striking distance of the No. 2 seeded Ragin' Cajuns (25-7, 13-5 Sun Belt).
 
However, Louisiana, which shot just 34.8 percent in the second half compared to its 51.9 percent clip in the first, staved off the Bobcats' comeback attempt. At 58-56, Jordan Brown hit a jumper to make it a four-point game again. And then, after Texas State made it a two-point contest on a driving lay-up by Jordan Mason, Brown responded another time with a lay-up with 38 seconds left following back-to-back missed free throws by the Ragin' Cajuns.
 
Texas State went on to miss its last field goal attempt as well as the front end of a one-and-one in the final 20 seconds.
 
Mason Harrell and Nighael Ceaser, in their final games as Bobcats, had 12 and 10 points, respectively. Ceaser shot 5-of-7 from the field and grabbed 10 rebounds to notch a double-double.
 
Mason had 11 points as the freshman had three double-digit scoring efforts in the four tournament games.
 
Texas State had eight free throw attempts to Louisiana's 24, but the Ragin' Cajuns were just 62.5 percent at the line. The Bobcats made six of their eight trips to the charity stripe. The Bobcats had no trips to the free throw line in the first half and did not get their first free throw attempt until the 14:46 mark in the second-half on an and-one by Harrell.
 
The Bobcats finished shooting 43.9 percent from the field (25-of-57) but 18.2 percent (2-of-11) from three-point range.
 
 
FROM HEAD COACH TERRENCE JOHNSON
"Tough game for the Bobcats today. I thought we fought. I felt we had opportunities tonight. We played against a very well coached team. Super, ultra-talented team. Older guys that have been together, connected for some time. These names – you don't necessarily need to look at scouting reports. If you've been in this league, you know who these guys are and what they're capable of. Credit to them; they had a great game plan. Those guys in the Bobcat locker room, I'll go to war with them with any day. I'm blessed to be coaching in San Marcos, Texas."
 
Full press conference
 
 
POSTGAME NOTES
Texas State has played in the Sun Belt tournament semifinals three times in program history: 2017, 2019, 2023. It also qualified for the semifinals in 2020 before the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
The Bobcats dropped to 0-3 against Louisiana this season.
 
Jordan Mason averaged 11.0 points on 48.6 percent shooting (17-of-35) in the tournament.
 
Mason Harrell averaged 15.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists in the tournament.
 
Nighael Ceaser had double-digit points in each of the last 3 games.