With seven teams playing for four Southland Conference tournament spots, the Bobcats' Men's Basketball team hosted the Northwestern State Demons on Saturday in what promised to be an exciting end-of-season conference matchup.
Texas State started the game off on the right foot with a 9-3 lead. Senior Guard Brent Benson got his first 2-pointer earlier in the first to make it 14-8 Texas State, before fellow Senior Guard Corey Jefferson followed with another deuce to make it 16-8. In a seemingly fast paced game the Bobcats had built their lead of the game to 23-10 while their scoring appeared effortless. About 10 minutes into the first half the Cats had control of the game in what was almost a “must-win” situation, meaning they would need a lot of help from other conference teams losing, if they had any hopes of securing a nice tournament spot.
The score was 23-14 and you could really hear the crowd starting to get into it. When Benson hit a raindrop from 22 feet to bring the Bobcat lead back up to 12 points, and then Junior Forward John Rybak hit another deuce for a 14 point lead, the fans went absolutely nuts. I’m not sure I have ever heard so much noise coming from Strahan Coliseum, at least not in recent memory for a basketball game. Rybak got another layup and the "AND-1" not even 2 minutes later. At this point Senior Guard Brandon Bush had gotten hit three times going to the hole and had not received even one foul call at that point in the game. Bowman scored a reverse layup to keep the lead in double digits.
The level of intense play that the Bobcats came out with showed how sincere they were about coming to this game not just to play, but to win. Soon Freshman Guard John Bowman hit his second circus shot, nothing but nylon! The basketball gods appeared to be in Strahan Coliseum this last day of February, with 13 turnovers for the Demons, only four for the Bobcats near the end of the half.
With a minute left in the first half Texas State was leading by 14 and Sophomore Guard Ryan White hit a 3 to push the lead to 17, 45-28. Benson then followed with another layup to bring the Cats lead to 19! Benson got another teardrop to bring his first half scoring total to 11. After a demon bucket, the Bobcats went to halftime leading 49-30. Unless something went terribly, horribly wrong, there was no way Texas State was going to lose this home game.
The action seemed to slow down with the opening of the second half, when Rybak got an offensive rebound and was fouled trying to do the put-back. 50-34 and Rybak got a steal and Jefferson found Benson who nailed down the 3 to make it 53-34. Soon Bush hit Benson who nailed another 3! 56-36. Benson was definitely on fire this day.
Rybak held back a little bit just to make sure he got back to the line as he gets another "AND-1." Bush stole the ball and scored a dunk, at this point it seems like the Bobcats were putting on a clinic. It starts to become clear. A 25 point lead with 16:20 left in the game.
Benson hit another 3! With Hancock in his face, are you kidding me? Can this guy miss!? Things started getting really testy around this point in the game, as the Demons were understandably frustrated, but nobody wanted to see a fight just a spectacular Texas State win.
There were 6 turnovers within 5 minutes since the beginning of the second half for the Demons. Demon Logan McConaughey commited an offensive foul on Rybak to commit another turnover. At that point in time Benson already had 20 points to lead every single player in the game. Then, Bowman hit an outstanding block that sent the fans in an uproar
It was 64-39 Bobcats, and Rybak hit a raindrop! Bobcats had a 25 point lead with eleven and a half minutes left in the game. It was almost time for the Cats to start draining the game clock with 25% of the game left to play!
Senior Forward Dylan Moseley made a jumper to put the score at 69-42 (+27).
Just when I started thinking, “This is a Bobcat team which I have seldom if ever seen, the way they played on both ends, I mean, where was this team a few weeks ago, where was this team all semester?!.” Then Benson hits another raindrop, and after a Moseley block on the other end, Strahan Coliseum started to become a Bobcat Block party.
The Bobcats' lead was increasing as the game went on. A Ryan White layup, with 9 minutes to go, really made it hard to believe that Northwestern State had any intention of winning this game. The Demons were just trying to avoid embarrassment, and the Bobcats were most likely hoping that no Demons would start any fights..
At this point, you knew it was coming. Mass substitutions for the Demons, 5 off and 5 on starting with 6 minutes left in the game which some saw as the white flag of surrender. Was there really any doubt? It had been a domination by the Bobcats, which is truly rare. I was hoping the Bobcats would win, but wow!
Texas State started the game off on the right foot with a 9-3 lead. Senior Guard Brent Benson got his first 2-pointer earlier in the first to make it 14-8 Texas State, before fellow Senior Guard Corey Jefferson followed with another deuce to make it 16-8. In a seemingly fast paced game the Bobcats had built their lead of the game to 23-10 while their scoring appeared effortless. About 10 minutes into the first half the Cats had control of the game in what was almost a “must-win” situation, meaning they would need a lot of help from other conference teams losing, if they had any hopes of securing a nice tournament spot.
The score was 23-14 and you could really hear the crowd starting to get into it. When Benson hit a raindrop from 22 feet to bring the Bobcat lead back up to 12 points, and then Junior Forward John Rybak hit another deuce for a 14 point lead, the fans went absolutely nuts. I’m not sure I have ever heard so much noise coming from Strahan Coliseum, at least not in recent memory for a basketball game. Rybak got another layup and the "AND-1" not even 2 minutes later. At this point Senior Guard Brandon Bush had gotten hit three times going to the hole and had not received even one foul call at that point in the game. Bowman scored a reverse layup to keep the lead in double digits.
The level of intense play that the Bobcats came out with showed how sincere they were about coming to this game not just to play, but to win. Soon Freshman Guard John Bowman hit his second circus shot, nothing but nylon! The basketball gods appeared to be in Strahan Coliseum this last day of February, with 13 turnovers for the Demons, only four for the Bobcats near the end of the half.
With a minute left in the first half Texas State was leading by 14 and Sophomore Guard Ryan White hit a 3 to push the lead to 17, 45-28. Benson then followed with another layup to bring the Cats lead to 19! Benson got another teardrop to bring his first half scoring total to 11. After a demon bucket, the Bobcats went to halftime leading 49-30. Unless something went terribly, horribly wrong, there was no way Texas State was going to lose this home game.
The action seemed to slow down with the opening of the second half, when Rybak got an offensive rebound and was fouled trying to do the put-back. 50-34 and Rybak got a steal and Jefferson found Benson who nailed down the 3 to make it 53-34. Soon Bush hit Benson who nailed another 3! 56-36. Benson was definitely on fire this day.
Rybak held back a little bit just to make sure he got back to the line as he gets another "AND-1." Bush stole the ball and scored a dunk, at this point it seems like the Bobcats were putting on a clinic. It starts to become clear. A 25 point lead with 16:20 left in the game.
Benson hit another 3! With Hancock in his face, are you kidding me? Can this guy miss!? Things started getting really testy around this point in the game, as the Demons were understandably frustrated, but nobody wanted to see a fight just a spectacular Texas State win.
There were 6 turnovers within 5 minutes since the beginning of the second half for the Demons. Demon Logan McConaughey commited an offensive foul on Rybak to commit another turnover. At that point in time Benson already had 20 points to lead every single player in the game. Then, Bowman hit an outstanding block that sent the fans in an uproar
It was 64-39 Bobcats, and Rybak hit a raindrop! Bobcats had a 25 point lead with eleven and a half minutes left in the game. It was almost time for the Cats to start draining the game clock with 25% of the game left to play!
Senior Forward Dylan Moseley made a jumper to put the score at 69-42 (+27).
Just when I started thinking, “This is a Bobcat team which I have seldom if ever seen, the way they played on both ends, I mean, where was this team a few weeks ago, where was this team all semester?!.” Then Benson hits another raindrop, and after a Moseley block on the other end, Strahan Coliseum started to become a Bobcat Block party.
The Bobcats' lead was increasing as the game went on. A Ryan White layup, with 9 minutes to go, really made it hard to believe that Northwestern State had any intention of winning this game. The Demons were just trying to avoid embarrassment, and the Bobcats were most likely hoping that no Demons would start any fights..
At this point, you knew it was coming. Mass substitutions for the Demons, 5 off and 5 on starting with 6 minutes left in the game which some saw as the white flag of surrender. Was there really any doubt? It had been a domination by the Bobcats, which is truly rare. I was hoping the Bobcats would win, but wow!
Pretty soon it was 91-63, When you heard “Rybak 3 points!” “Bowman to Gaugh, DUNK!!!” With one minute left, the whole crowd erupted as many Bobcat fans had smiles on their faces. As a matter of fact, it sounded like most fans wanted the Cats to hit the century mark. Sloan hit one more, but alas, the century mark was not met, although I don’t think any Bobcats will lose sleep over it. FINAL SCORE: 98-65
The Bobcats are now 6-8 in conference play and have two more games left in the regular season, one against UTSA, and then one against Sam Houston State, both of which should have plenty importance. As radio analyst Bill Culhane says "LIGHT THE STAR on Jackson Hall!" after this pounding, I can’t think of a Texas State basketball game victory more deserving.
Casey Torres- KTSW Sports Staff Writer
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