LAS VEGAS – The opening game of the Resorts World Classic saw Texas State (6-3) fall to Seattle (5-1) early Friday afternoon at the Resorts World Events Center.
 
"For us, it was a disappointing showing. I thought we had good momentum coming into this MTE. You have to give Seattle credit. They were the tougher team in the second half. They disrupted us and dictated the flow of the game," said head coach Terrence Johnson. "We'll regroup and accept today's outcome and hopefully learn from it. Tomorrow will present its own set of challenges and I expect us to hand adversity better moving forward."
 
Mark Drone was the lone Bobcat to reach double figures in the game with 10 points on 5-of-11 shooting. His three assists were tied for the most on the team with DJ Hall, who totaled seven points and six rebounds. Also finishing with seven points was Franck Emmou, who knocked down his lone three-point attempt.
 
Off the bench, Dimp Pernell netted six points and Kyndall Davis totaled five points and six boards, four of them offensive.
 
Down by four, Emmou made a layup after DJ Hall stole a pass. Hall would follow with a hook shot to on the Bobcats' next possession to tie the game at 6-6.
 
Seattle responded with a 9-2 run over the next 2:48 to retake the lead. TXST responded by scoring nine of the next 11 points to tie the game again that was capped off by a Drone jumper in the paint.
 
Pernell made a layup and Emmou connected on a jumper from the right elbow the next time down the court to give Texas State its first lead of the contest at 21-20 with 7:58 left in the first half.
 
Neither team would lead by more than three points for the rest of the period. Both squads went the final 4:08 of the opening stanza scoring just two points apiece with them all coming at the free throw line as the teams went into halftime tied at 33-33.
 
Hall made a layup through two Redhawks and Willis knocked down two free throws to give Texas State a 37-34 lead early in the second half.
 
However, Seattle responded with a 14-2 run over the next 4:48. The Redhawks would eventually stretch their lead to 58-41 at the 7:21 mark.
 
A layup by Tay Knox started an 8-0 run for the Bobcats to cut the deficit to nine points. Capping off the run was back-to-back layups from Jalen Bolden. That would be as close as the team would get the rest of the contest.
 
Next up for TXST is a meeting with either Lehigh or UC Santa Barbara in the consolation game on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT.
 
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