SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State men's basketball team (11-9, 4-4 Sun Belt) are the first Sun Belt Conference team to win 10 games at home this season after defeating Southern Miss (11-9, 5-3 Sun Belt) Saturday afternoon by a score of 74-67 inside Strahan Arena.
 
For the second straight game, Kaden Gumbs led the Bobcats offensively with 18 points. He made 6-of-10 shots, including going 2-for-3 on three-point attempts, and knocked down 4-of-6 free throws. The San Marcos native also grabbed a season-high eight rebounds, dished out three assists and recorded two steals.
 
DJ Hall was 5-for-10 shooting the ball and connected on 7-of-9 attempts at the charity stripe on his way to scoring 17 points. The freshman added six rebounds, three steals, two assists and two blocks.
 
Coming off the bench, Franck Emmou scored 13 points that saw him make all six of his free throw tries. Robert Fields chipped in nine points, all of which came at the charity stripe on a 9-for-10 performance. In 13 minutes, Makai Willis chipped in six points and six rebounds.
 
Texas State jumped out to a 5-0 lead at the 18:20 mark after a layup by Hall and Mark Drone knocking down a three-pointer from the top of the arc. The offense would then go cold as it was held scoreless for the next 5:18 during which the Golden Eagles scored nine points.
 
It was the first of six times in the half that the visitors led by four points with the last coming at the 4:53 mark at 21-17. Three-pointers from Kyndall Davis and Emmou sandwiched a layup from Hall to quickly swing the lead back to the Bobcats.
 
USM would take a 28-27 advantage into halftime when Israel Hart made a long jumper right before the buzzer.
 
The second half began with Hall converting an old-fashion three-point play on the opening possession. Davis and Gumbs knocked down back-to-back treys to make it a 9-0 run and force a Golden Eagle timeout just over two minutes into the period.
 
Slowly chipping away, USM would cut its deficit to 44-43 with 9:04 remaining on the clock after two free throws from Hart. The game stayed within a possession until a 13-3 run by Texas State over a 4:47 span gave the hosts its largest advantage at 62-50.
 
Over the final two minutes, the Bobcats kept the Golden Eagles at bay and closed out the game going 12-for-14 at the free throw line. Five of the charity stripe shots were each made by Fields and Hall and the other two came from Emmou in that span.
 
Next up for TXST is a weekend on the road beginning on Thursday at 6 p.m. CT when the team travels to take on Coastal Carolina.
 
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