Bobcat Bench Blasts Cowboys

Texas State’s bench outscored McNeese State’s 48-31, and the ‘Cats picked up the win on Saturday, 95-88. Coming into the game, the Bobcats were on a two-game skid so this weekend’s game was a must win.

In front of another nice crowd of 2,000, Texas State seemed to be aggressors all night and it paid dividends. They finished the contest with a total of 47 free throws, connecting on 35 of them, compared to the McNesse’s measly 13 of 18. The ‘Cats 74% clip from the line was a great change of pace, seeing how they missed a total of 20 free throws in their last home game.

In addition to the great free throw shooting, Coach Davalos’ club managed to take care of the ball, which is something they have had trouble with this season at times. They only had 14, that’s right 14, turnovers in the game, which isa mark that they’ve had in the first half of some of their games.

Now onto the game changers…

Four of the five Bobcat players who came off the bench played more than 23 minutes each. Freshman guard Dylan Hale was the only one out of the four who didn’t finish in double digits, and he had 9 points and 5 assists. Tony Bishop had his second straight double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds as he shot 9-10 from the charity stripe. Uriel Segura also added 11 points in his 25 minutes of play. J.B. Conley literally could not miss. Conley went into halftime shooting a perfect 3-3 from the field, 2-2 from three, and 3-3 from the free throw line. Most importantly, he did let up and he carried his strong play over to the second half. Conley finished the night with 17 points and 3 rebounds.

Not to go unnoticed, Cameron Johnson was the only starter in double figures, and he did it in spectacular fashion. Cam shot a nearly perfect 10-11 from the field and finished with 29 points. He was only two rebounds shy of yet another double-double. Cam was nothing short of unstoppable all night and he had his way with the Cowboy defense. He also played a game high 34 minutes, but that did not seem to affect him at all.

With the win, Texas State moves to 11-12 overall and 5-4 in conference play. The ‘cats are knotted up with Lamar for the third spot in West Division but Coach Davalos says he is not worried about that. “We are just worried about the second half of Conference,” coach said, meaning he does not want his team to dwell on their previous eight games. They have to stay focused on their upcoming slate of contests.

Texas State will be back in action on Wednesday as they face Southland Conference powerhouse Texas A&M - Corpus Christi at the AmericaBank Center in Corpus Christi. Tip off is at 7 P.M. and KTSW will have pregame coverage starting at 6:45 on 89.9 and ktsw.net.

-Robert Fisher, KTSW Sports Staff Writer