Bobcats Keep Streak Alive After Brawl Sends Four Players Into Locker Room

On Wednesday night the Bobcats came out to face the Southeastern Louisiana Lions at Strahan Coliseum. Texas State entered the game with a 9-11 overall record and a 2-5 Southland Conference mark after recording an 80-78 victory at UT Arlington last Saturday afternoon. The victory came after the Bobcats suffered their fifth straight loss with an 86-76 setback at UTSA on Jan. 28. Texas State went into the game with full force against the Lions and it came down to four ejections and a close finish for the Bobcats to top the Lions 84-82.

The night started out with the Lions jumping to an early lead. The Cats defense was looking like they might have troubles stopping the likes of Patrick Sullivan and Chris Cyprian and the running Lion offense. The Lions had there inside game working for the first six and a half minutes of the first half with junior Patrick Sullivan. However, half way through the first half Ty Gough and Brandon Bush both scored on back to back possessions, with help from a Lion turnover, and brought the score back to 18-15 Lions.

This was all followed up with a three-pointer, drained by John Rybak, my player of the game candidate, to tie the game at 18 with 9:15, again after another Lion turnover. Three turnovers in a row gave, non other than, John Rybak a chance to get that many points, with one of his four three-pointers. The game had been very sloppy; mostly because of high energy defenses causing bad decisions, bad passes, and poor shot attempts.

With the Bobcats leading most of the minutes after the ten minute mark, there were a series of plays that got the crowd at the Coliseum on their feet and really "growling" for the home team. Back-to-Back dunks by the Lions and Bobcats got the crowd excited and then John Bowman nearly fell into a ladies lap in the front row going for a pass, then ran back on the court to chalk up a steal on the stat sheet from an arrant Lions pass. The first half was as exciting a basketball game can get, with both the fans, and players very energized and pumped. The half ended with Mr. Rybak (Player of the Game) knocking down a buzzer beating "trey" to make the score 45-42 Lions.

It looked like the second half was going to start off just as nice with Brandon Bush getting two points right off the bat for the 'Cats. But the Lions went on a run and after the first two minutes the scoredboard read 52-48 Lions. The game then took a HUGE swing.

The game thus far was a very physical and emotional battle on both sides. The officiating had been shaky on a few plays and it seemed a couple of players were "jawing" at each other. With it being a very tight game each team weighing every possession heavily, the teams were playing extremely aggressive basketball.

With 16:26 left in the second half, Brent Benson for the Bobcats and Chris Cyprian for the Lions were coming down the court, away from the ball, and it seemed that their feet got tangled bringing both to the floor. While both players were getting off the floor, excited Cyprian gave Benson a head butt to the chest. This happened in front of the Lions bench and when the Bobcat teammates came to defend their player the bench cleared thus clearing the Bobcat bench. Pure Pandemonium in the Coliseum people!

No one got hurt and order was restored, the refs Disqualified (Ejected) John Bowman and Brent Benson for the Bobcats and Warrell Span and Chris Cyprian for the Lions. After the game Head Coach for the Bobcats Doug Davalos said he liked the "fire" and "fight" in his guys, stating that he liked how his guys jumped up to defend their player, not that he liked fighting, also stating "he apologized" to fans and spectators for the incident and that it should "never happen" in the game of college basketball.

I do understand exactly what Coach Davalos meant. The team was trying to protect their guy and not let him or them, be walked all over. After play resumed there were three or four quick foul calls amongst both teams as the referees tried to regain order "on the court".

With the game 54-53 Lions after three foul shots by John Rybak with 14:50 left in the game, it seemed as if each team was walking on glass and trying not to get called for fouls after the beginning of the half "shenanigans" . The game went to a slow drag compared to the first half as each team had stopped the fast breaks and the quick drives to the lanes. The Lions were also in early foul trouble in the second half, already in the double penalty with about 14 minutes left in the half. The Cats would made it to the double penalty at the 10 minute mark as well.

The key of this half thus far was the full court and half court pressure, specifically the zone press presented by the Bobcats. This increased impact from the zone press defense exhibited by the Cats led to a 74-63 lead with 8 minutes left in the game. With 6 minutes left and Brandon Bush at the line after a monster Slam and the foul, the game seemed in the Bobcats hands and the win in sight. But Bush missed the free throw and the Lions started to slowly make a little come back.

The Player of the Game Rybak could not get any help from the ref's on the Charging calls, and they kept getting him for Blocking. Obviously the officiating had been tightened but a couple of calls seemed to go against the Bobcats that could have gone either way. However, the Cats would jump out to another big lead of 81-69 with 3:52 left in the game. A three by Dylan Moseley for the Bobcats seemed to anger the Lions, trying to prove they were the bigger Cat in the house.

The Lions quickly brought the game back to 83-78 with about 2 minutes left in the game. The Bobcats could not put away a shot in their next possession giving the Lions a chance to make it 83-80 and that is exactly what they did. After a Bobcat turnover the Lions called a timeout with 37 seconds left and put together an inbound play from under the basket. After the timeout, the Lions whipped the ball around to the top of the key and dropped it down low to the post where Brandon Fortenberry was fouled by Dylan Moseley before he could get the shot off. The big thing was that the officials called a Flagrant foul and thus the Lions had two shots and the ball. Fortenberry went 1-2 from the line and the Bobcats managed to get a rebound on the Lions possession. The Cats were quickly fouled and then went 1-2 from the stripe and the Lions had one more shot to either win the game our send it into overtime with the score 84-82 and only 8 seconds left in the game. After the inbound pass the Lions couldn't even manage to get a last second shot off because the Cats showed great defense with the zone press which proved too much for a freshman guard for the Lions to handle. The Bobcats proved they were the bigger Cat in the house.

The game was one of the most exciting of the year thus far, especially at Strahan Coliseum. The Cats move to 10-11 overall record, and 3-5 in SLC play. The game took a big change with four key players being escorted from the court, however, the Bobcats showed that they were the fiercest Cats on the Court and put away a troublesome Lion offense with an impressive second half burst of defense. Catch the Cats in action again on Sunday as they travel to McNeese State for another big SLC match-up. You can listen to all the action scheduled to start with the pre-game at 6:45 on 89.9 KTSW and txstatebobcats.com.

Will McGinnis- KTSW Sports Staff Writer