Texas State men's basketball was up by as many as 19 points late in the first half against UT-Pan American, and a lot of it was credited to the Bobcats being very unselfish on offense, senior Cameron Johnson had his way with the Broncos’ front court in an 82-70 Bobcat win. The game was a seesaw affair early, with four lead changes, but UTPA’s inability to take care of the orange got the better of them early.
The lead at intermission was 17, and the ‘Cats were sitting at a 15-20 mark from the free throw line.
No that was not a typo…
Texas State shot 75 percent from the free throw line in the first 20 minutes, which if the Bobcats can continue this level of shooting from the line, will without a doubt help their cause tremendously. And we can’t forget to mention that Johnson already had 17 points at halftime, and it seemed as if he was on his way to a career day. The senior led his team into the locker room with a convincing lead, and this looked like one that could get very ugly for the Broncos in the second period.
And it got ugly, all right - but not on the scoreboard. By the 15 minute mark in the second half, a couple of very drastic things had happened. The Bobcats' 17-point lead dwindled down to five; the Broncs caught fire from deep, and the Bobcats already had ten team fouls! Now maybe more than a few of those calls could be credited to quick whistles by the referees, but these two teams are no strangers to personal fouls. In the previous meetings between these teams, there was a total of 51 fouls called; this one would be worse, as there was a total of 61 foul calls made.
So with the sloppy play, UTPA ended up tying the ball game at 66 with 6:00 left, but senior leadership by Ryan White and Tony Bishop pushed the team through the tough stretch and got them the win.
Junior transfer from New Mexico Matt Staff got a critical and-one layup that gave the ‘Cats a comfortable eight point lead with three minutes left to play. The lead eventually grew due to strong free throw shooting, and the final score read 82-70.
Johnson finished with 19 points and six boards, while White scored 13. Staff collected eleven points and seven rebounds, as both Uriel Segura and Travis Jones netted ten a piece. Texas State finished up the night connecting on 26 of their 36 free throws for a whopping 72 percent, their best mark of the season.
Conference play is officially upon us, and Texas State has their first match-up against Northwestern State at Strahan Coliseum this Saturday at 4:00 p.m. KTSW will have pregame coverage starting at 3:45 p.m. on 89.9 FM and ktsw.net.
Robert Fisher, KTSW Assistant Sports Director
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