Bobcats Guarantee Spot in SLC Tournament With Huge Win Over Northwestern State

The night before their game against Northwestern State, the Southland Conference informed Texas State that Cameron Johnson would be suspended in their upcoming game against the Demons. The team's fate may have seemed doubtful playing against Northwestern State in such an important matchup, but J.B. Conley had no problem taking up the slack. Conley scored 42 points, but more importantly, led the Bobcats to an 89-75 victory. This achievement hasn't been done since 1993 at Texas State, when Lynwood Wade scored 42 points against Sam Houston State. The 'Cats have now guaranteed themselves at least an 8 seed in the upcoming Southland Conference Tournament in March.

The only time when the Bobcats trailed against the Demons was in the first quarter by a 10-7 margin. After that, J.B.'s layup led to an 11-10 Bobcat lead and Texas State proceeded to stay on top throughout the entire game. Not only was Conley on top of his game by scoring 22 points in the first half, but he also had 3 offensive rebounds. Conley wasn't the only one putting up points, as Ryan White scored 6 points while Bidias A' Moute had 5 in the first half. It was point after point with Conley and he became unstoppable with the assists of his teammates and self motivation. Devon Baker lead the Demons with 14 points while other gave 5 or 4 points each. By the end of the first half, the score ended at 45-36.

During half time, it was mentioned that the Demons didn't have the crowd the Bobcats expected them to obtain. Regardless of the chants and cheers, it just wasn't enough to give the Demons that motivation to come into the second half and dominate their own home turf.

Coming into the second half, Texas State came into a tie with the Northwestern at a score of 48-48. This had been the only time that the Demons had came anywhere near close to getting ahead of the Bobcats. Johnathon Sloan made a jumper in the lane and Conley added on another pair of free throws to help lead the Bobcats. Some key players for Northwestern St. were Devon Baker with 12 points total and Will Pratt with 11 points in the second half. Throughout the entire second half, the game was basket to basket and it wsas obvious that Texas State had taken the game. By the time it was 3:44, the Cats lead by 14 points and when it came to 30 seconds on the score board, it was too late for the Demons to catch up.

The final score of the game was 89-75, which now gives Texas State a 13-15 overall record and an even 7-7 mark in SLC play. Northwestern State fell to 10-17 overall and in a four-way tie for the eighth place with Nicholls, McNeese State and Lamar.

The Bobcats will travel to UTSA on March 3rd at 7 pm and come back home and play their last game against Sam Houston State on March 6th at 2:00 p.m. You can listen to the UTSA game on KTSW 89.9 FM and ktsw.net, and you can hear the Sam Houston State game on txstatebobcats.com.

-Jessica Salinas, KTSW Sports Staff Writer