TROY, Ala. – Trailing by nine at halftime, Texas State rallied to claim a 74-73 victory on the road at Troy on Thursday night from Trojan Arena. Leading the way for the Bobcats was Mark Drone and Tylan Pope with a combined 44 points, of which 27 came in the final 20 minutes of action.
 
"Wow, heck of a battle! That's a hard playing, well coached team we played tonight. I have to give credit to our players for fighting all game, never putting their heads down and just kept competing and believing," said head coach Terrence Johnson. "This was a complete team effort, but Mark Drone and Tylan Pope were special tonight. When we play together, we are hard to beat. I couldn't' be prouder of these guys."
 
The Bobcats snapped a three-game losing streak to improve to 9-7 overall and 2-2 in the Sun Belt Conference. The Trojans fell to 10-5 on the year and 3-1 in conference play.
 
Pope scored a career-high 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. Of his 10 boards, eight were on the offensive glass. He was also 9-of-16 from the field, made his lone three-point attempt and connected on 8-of-11 free throw attempts including the game winner.
 
Drone totaled 17 points off the bench in his season debut in the maroon and gold. The junior was 5-of-9 shooting and converted all six of his free throw attempts. He also finished with three assists, two rebounds and two steals in 20 minutes of action.
 
Also reaching double-figures was Kaden Gumbs with 11 points. The San Marcos, Texas native dished out a game-high four assists while totaling six rebounds and two steals.
 
TXST overcame a 31-21 free throw disparity by making 85.7% of its attempts compared to 77.4% by the hosts. The Bobcats held a 34-31 advantage on the glass and totaled 16 points off of 15 offensive rebounds.
 
It would be the Pope show early on for Texas State as the fifth-year senior scored seven of the team's first 11 points that included knocking down his lone three-pointer of the contest from the top of the arc. However, Troy would lead for nearly the entire first half. The lone exception was when Pope tied the score 55 seconds into the contest at 2-2.
 
Down by 11, Drone converted an and-1 opportunity to start an 11-3 run for the Bobcats that cut the deficit to 30-27 with 3:50 left in the opening half. The rest of the period saw Texas State score just five points to the Trojans' 11 as the hosts took a 41-32 lead into the break.
 
The Bobcats came out strong on both ends of the court and would tie the game at 49-49 on the second of Dylan Dawson's two three-pointers in the game with 13:25 on the clock. They would take their first lead of the game with 1:24 minutes later when Pope knocked down two free throw attempts. The largest lead for Texas State was three points, which happened twice. The last time was when Drone hit a jump to put the team up 57-54 with 9:24 remaining.
 
A Tayton Conerway layup at the 2:41 mark put the Trojans up by three with 2:41 left in the game. Drone countered with a layup of his own and then a three-pointer off an in-bound play to give Texas State the lead, 71-69.
 
With 7.1 seconds remaining, Thomas Dowd converted a layup to again tie up the score at 73-73. Coach Johnson decided to not call a timeout and let Drone run a play. The junior got into the lane and dumped the ball off to Pope, who was fouled on a dunk attempt with 1.1 left to play. He missed the first of two attempts but hit the backend to put the Bobcats up by one.
 
Conerway was able to get an off-balance three-point attempt off before the buzzer, but it was wide and short of the hoop.
 
The four-game road swing for TXST comes to an end on Saturday when it plays at Southern Miss with tip scheduled for 2 p.m.
 
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