Texas State men's basketball pulled out a gritty performance to advance in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament with a 92-83 overtime win on Tuesday night.
 
It truly was a tale of two halves as the Bobcats trailed most the first half and had to fight back for most of the second half. A gutsy second half performance that included a 46 point half to cut the 10 point deficit down to zero forced the game into overtime.
 
With all the momentum from the second half on their side, the Bobcats outscored ODU 18-9 in the overtime period and would go on to win. A 28 point night from Coleton Benson and 19 point nights from Jordan Mason and Brandon Love propelled the Bobcats to the win.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Brandon Love led the way for the Bobcats in the first half with 10 points and four rebounds on 3-5 shooting while knocking down four free-throws. Coleton Benson was also good for six points as he drained the Bobcats two first-half three-pointers. 
 
Old Dominion had a lead early on that the Bobcats were able to cut to a three-point lead at the midway point of the half when Chris Nix put away a layup. Shortly after, Brandon Love had a lay-up of his own to make a two-point game.
 
ODU went on an 11-3 run to go up 35-24 just before the two-minute mark of the first half, though.
 
The first half woes came from being out-rebounded and free-throw shooting. The Monarchs had 26 rebounds to the Bobcats 15 as they shot 13-30. Also, to the 'Cats detriment was shooting 6-14 from the free-throw line while ODU was nearly perfect, going 9-10. 
 
ODU had 19 defensive rebounds to the Bobcats 11 and the nine fast break points for the Monarchs made a difference.
 
At the half the Bobcats trailed 38-28.
 
Out of the halftime break the Bobcats were able to make it a 5-point game with a Dylan Dawson three and Jordan Mason free-throw, but the 7-0 run that ODU went on after that pushed it back to a 12-point deficit.
 
From there, the Bobcats slowly hammered away at the deficit. Joshua O'Garro hit a three to make it a single digit game again. Jordan Mason hit a jumper to make it a seven-point game. And Benson hit a three to make it a five-point game. 
 
With nine minutes on the clock Benson was fouled on his three-point attempt and drained all three to make it a one possession game. 
 
With just under five to go, Benson did it again. He sunk three-straight foul shots to make it a 62-61 game.
 
After making it a one-point game himself, Benson would go on to score the game-tying three in the final minute of the game. His three knotted things up at 74 apiece and forced the game into overtime.
 
From there, it was all gas no breaks for the Bobcats. While 18 points in the overtime period, 12 of them came from the free-throw line. The Bobcats were a perfect 12-12 from the line, after cleaning up their early-game struggles. Benson continued to be clutch for the Bobcats as he went for eight of his 28 points in overtime, with six of them being from the line. Benson had 22 of his 28 points in the second half and overtime.
 
The Bobcats would go on to win in overtime by a 92-83 score line to advance in the Sun Belt Conference tournament. The Bobcats will face Southern Miss on Feb. 7 at 5 p.m. in the Pensacola Bay Center.