SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State men's basketball (11-14) extended its winning streak to four games with a 68-60 victory over Ball State (12-12) Saturday afternoon from Strahan Arena. The Bobcats completed a sweep of their portion of the MAC-SBC Challenge and clinched the men's side for the Sun Belt Conference with the win.
 
Davion Sykes continued to shine in his starting role as he recorded his third double-double in four games, finishing with 11 points and 10 rebounds. He also recorded two steals and blocked a shot.
 
TXST's bench outscored the Cardinals 37-0 with both Coleton Benson and Jordan Mason netting 11 points each. Joshua O'Garro contributed eight points on 4-of-4 shooting and Chirs Nix added six points and made all three of his shot attempts. The final three points off the bench came from Dontae Horne, who also finished with three assists and two rebounds.
 
All 13 turnovers that the Bobcats forced on the day were the result of a steal. Pacing the squad was Christian Turner with a season-high tying three swipes with two coming in the final minute of the game.
 
After Brandon Love opened the scoring with a layup 26 seconds into the game, it would be all BSU for the next six minutes with a 13-2 run.
 
Benson was fouled on a three-point attempt and made all of tires at the charity stripe to jump start an 11-0 run. He would also knock down his first of two three-pointers in the contest to cap off the scoring stretch.
 
The Cardinals retook the lead on a three-pointer by Trent Middleton, Jr. It would not last long as O'Garro converted back-to-back layup attempts and Nix added one of his own to make it a five-point Bobcat advantage.
 
Ball State knotted the score at 29-29 with 2:32 left in the period on free throws from Jalin Anderson. Texas State took a six-point lead into halftime as it ended the first 20 minutes on an 8-2 run.
 
The Bobcats would never trail the rest of the game with the closest the Cardinals getting was 37-35 just over a minute into the second half. Back-to-back three-pointers by Dylan Dawson and Horne along with a layup by Turner game TXST their largest advantage of the game at 14 points with 6:37 left on the clock.
 
A four-game road swing begins for TXST on Thursday with a trip to take on South Alabama at 7 p.m.
 
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