LAFAYETTE, La. – The Texas State men's basketball team wrapped up the weekend with a 66-46 loss to Louisiana on Sunday afternoon from the Cajundome.
 
"I thought we did a good job of weathering the storm early on. Louisiana is a team that can turn it up really fast on you and that's what happened in the second half," said head coach Terrence Johnson. "Their threes on top of our turnovers made things difficult for us and we never recovered. We have a small margin for error, so hopefully we take some things from today's game to help us get better for Thursday night against South Alabama."
 
The loss drops the Bobcats to 7-14 on the season and 1-8 in the Sun Belt Conference while the Ragin' Cajuns are now 13-8 overall and 6-3 in league play.
 
Dylan Dawson led TXST with 10 points, all of which were scored in the first half, on 4-of-9 shooting and went 2-for-5 from beyond the arc. The senior guard did set a career-high with three steals on the afternoon.
 
Both Brandon Love and Davion Sykes finished with eight points and two blocks. All of Sykes' points were scored after halftime while six of Love's came in the final 20 minutes. With his two rejections, Love increased his season total to 39 to move up to sixth on the program's single-season list. He also matched Eric Terry (2017-20) for fifth place in team history.
 
After the Ragin' Cajuns jumped out to a 6-0 lead, the Bobcats scored seven straight points in a 1:23 span to take their lone lead of the first half. Dawson scored the first five points and Brandon Love capped off the run with a layup.
 
Louisiana counted with another run, this time being 11 straight points, to take the lead for the rest of the half. TXST chipped away and got to within 22-19 on Dawson's second trey of the contest that came at the 5:58 mark. The teams would alternate buckets the rest of the half as the hosts took a six-point lead into the break.
 
A 17-4 run to start the second half allowed the Cajuns to pull away for good. The closest Texas State would get the rest of the way was a 13-point margin with just over 11 minutes remaining after netting six straight points with the first four coming courtesy of Sykes.
 
A four-game homestand is next up for the Bobcats that beings on Thursday with a contest against South Alabama.
 
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