Men's Basketball Dominates Roadrunners in I-35 Rivalry

The annual I-35 Maroon-Orange Rivalry is played twice a year, and Game 1 goes to Texas State this year, 76-62. Strahan Coliseum was flooded with more fans than the gym has seen in a long time with over 3,500 in attendance. So the Bobcats felt as if they owed their peers a great game and a victory.

The 12-5 UTSA Roadrunners came into San Marcos with hopes to spoil Texas State’s first of two straight home games. However, the Bobcats came out of the gates firing on all cylinders as they connected on five of their first six shots. They jumped out on UTSA early, going up 20-6 at one point. The ‘Cats never trailed at all in the game and the fans never let up either. The Roadrunners' star Point Guard Devin Gibson, arguably the best PG in the conference, got lots of defensive attention coming into the game and it paid dividends. John Bowman, maybe John Bowen now (that's a reference for you Spurs fans), frustrated Gibson all night as he finished 3-11 from the field and 4-7 from the line. The fact that UTSA just could not find a steady rhythm all night had a lot to do with Bowman’s defense on Gibson.

Another star point guard, Ryan White for Texas State, received lots of attention going into Wednesday’s game. However, he responded well. White played all but two minutes in the contest and those two minutes of rest he got were crucial. The Bobcats were up 6 at the 4:34 mark in the 1st half when Ryan sat down so his bench-time was short lived. White makes that Bobcat offense run and run well, as he proved with 14 points and 3 assists. More importantly, he only had two turnovers. (And no, that is not a typo for those of you following this team for a while).

However, the biggest story of the night was the play of the frontcourt. For the second game in a row, Bidias A’ Moute (Big-E) and Cameron Johnson simply dominated the opposing team on the glass. Johnson finished the night with another double-double as he racked up 22 points and 10 boards. Cameron was an offensive machine all night long and he got his shot off at will. Right along with him was Big-E. Emmanuel was all over the place as his final stat line was very active. E finished with 7 points, 15 rebounds, 8 assists, and 4 blocks as he fueled his team to another home victory.

The Bobcats are now 4-2 in Southland Conference play and 10-10 overall. The ‘Cats will be back in action on Saturday at 2 P.M. as they take on UT-Arlington in San Marcos. Texas State won the first meeting between the two teams this year 64-60 in Arlington and holds a four-game winning streak over the Mavericks. KTSW will have pre-game coverage starting at 1:45 on 89.9 FM, ktsw.net, and txstatebobcats.com

-Robert Fisher, KTSW Sports Staff Writer