Men's Basketball Falls Again in the Desert

The Texas State Men's Basketball team went 0-2 in the Dick's Sporting Goods tournament in Tempe, Arizona this week. After falling to nationally recognized Arizona State on Monday, the Bobcats were looking forward to bounce back with a win against Cal State Northridge on Tuesday.

The Bobcats were up at recess 51-46 and they looked strong early despite them trailing most of the first half. Cal State, 2009 Big West Conference champions and NCAA tournament qualifier, did not look like they could keep up with the Bobcats' fast paced offense. Texas State jumped out early in the second half and clung to a 10 point lead. However, the Matadors came out of a timeout and was all business. After Northridge went on an immediate 6-0 run, the game was tick-for-tack the rest of the night.

Texas State continually shot themselves in the foot as they tallied up a ridiculous 30 turnovers compared to twenty-three Matador turnovers. For comparison's sake, Texas State turned over the ball 27 times against Arizona State last night. Coach Doug Davalos showed his disgust with his team's careless-ness during his post game interview. Davalos said his team was not strong with the ball and they cannot win games like that. This young squad showed their immaturity with all of the turnovers, but the season is young so they have time to clean it up. "We are not in a position to learn from losing games," Davalos said. "We need to win right now."

The 'Cats fought all the way to the end and did not let up one bit. They were down by two with 6.1 seconds left, and missed free throws kept them down for good. Cal State missed the back end of a 1-and-1 but the Bobcats could not come up with the rebound and one more free throw sealed the deal. John Ryback threw up a desperation shot at the buzzer but was off the mark as the scoreboard flashed a final score of 85-82 in favor of CSU-Northridge.

Texas State impressively out-rebounded Cal State 50-27, but the last one they could not come up with proved to be the deciding factor. What is typically considered a simple box out and defensive rebound, was overlooked and Cal State capitalized. The Matadors definitely escaped a loss, as being out-rebounded by twenty-three is a recipe for disaster.

The men's team will resume play on Saturday when they travel to the University of New Orleans. One rationale for the excessive giveaways is that players are playing out of their position. Junior point guard Ryan White is expected to return to the floor where he has been greatly missed in the team's first 3 games. Coach Davalos is confident that White's return will drastically improve this team and fans can rest assured that he is probably right. He will relieve point guard duties from shooting guard John Bowman, who is playing out of his position, which should improve the team's offensive efficiency and lower their turnovers. Texas State goes to 1-2 on the season with Tuesday's loss as they continue to develop in this young season.

-Robert Fisher, KTSW Sports Staff Writer