STATESBORO, Ga. – For just the second time this season, the Texas State men's basketball team (14-11, 7-6 Sun Belt) won away from San Marcos after defeating Georgia Southern (14-11, 6-6 Sun Belt) Wednesday night in the Convocation Center by a score of 77-71.
 
"I thought we came out a little bit sluggish to start but I'm glad that we picked it up. Watching them on film, we felt like it was going to be a nip and tuck game early on, but in the third quarter part of the game is where we could pull away if we stayed focused, locked in and what we came to do," said head coach Terrence Johnson.
 
DJ Hall led the Bobcats offensively with 16 points and 10 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season. He also recorded three assists and three steals.
 
Adding 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting in just 12 minutes was Makai Willis. Chipping in with 13 points was Kaden Gumbs, who sealed the game going 6-for-6 at the free throw line in the last 17 seconds of the contest.
 
Kyndall Davis also reached double-figures with 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting and dished out three assists.
 
"I'm proud of our guys. I thought Tay Knox had an amazing game. He was focused and locked in from start to finish. Also, Makai Willis played some really impactful minutes, especially from a scoring standpoint," said Johnson. "We did what we needed to do as winning on the road and I'm proud of the effort and focus to close the game out."
 
As a team, Texas State finished with a 40-27 advantage on the boards that saw them grab 13 rebounds, which led to 18 points, to just five for the Eagles. The Bobcats made 27-of-60 (45.0%) shots on the night and went 20-for-22 (90.9%) at the charity stripe.
 
It was a slow start offensively for Texas State at it made just one of their first eight shots attempts of the game. On the other hand, the Eagles knocked down 3-of-4 shots in that same time frame to lead 8-3.
 
Willis entered the game and took over as he scored nine points in 5:05 minutes, which allowed TXST to take a 12-10 advantage. GS responded with seven straight points in just over a minute to go back up by five.
 
Texas State chipped away and eventually retook the lead on a Franck Emmou three-pointer in transition with 2:33 left in the first half. The teams would trade baskets over the final two minutes of the period with the hosts taking a 31-30 lead into the break.
 
Starting the second half, the Bobcats scored 11 of the first 15 points spread between four players to take a seven-point lead. Eight straight points in a two-and-a-half-minute span saw them push their advantage to 62-47 for their largest of the contest.
 
Georgia Southern scored seven points in 23 seconds to make it a four-point game with just over a minute to play.
 
Neither team added to their score until Gumbs was fouled with 17 seconds remaining. A technical was issued on an Eagles player and the San Marcos native knocked down all four attempts. He would seal the game with two more free throws 10 seconds later.
 
A three-game homestand for TXST begins on Saturday with a MAC-SBC Challenge contest against Western Michigan at 2 p.m.
 
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