Our Lady of the Lake had a lot to be thankful for when they left San Marcos on Thanksgiving eve after they gave up a whopping 73 points in the second half against Texas State men's basketball. In a story of two halves (and some extra time), the Bobcats fought from a big deficit, but it was too much as they lost a nail-biter, 127-126.
It seemed as though there were two completely different teams on the court Wednesday afternoon. In the first half, the defense-less team we saw against Long Island University reared its ugly head yet again: The ‘Cats got up 8-0 to start the game and seemed as if they would run away with this one. That was until the NAIA Our Lady of the Lake squad realized that they could play with the Bobcats.
The Saints went on a run that would give them the lead for more than 35 minutes. Texas State just wasn’t getting it done on either end, giving up open three pointers on defense and trying to play one-on-one basketball on offensive. The ‘Cats consistently broke the Saints’ press-break but refused to make the extra-pass at the basket, so the referees were constantly calling charges. This sloppy play put Texas State on a fast track to a 55-35 half time deficit.
About five minutes into the second half is when things got out of hand. Junior transfer Eddie Rios was called for a technical foul, and about 20 seconds after that, forward J.B. Conley was also called for a technical. Frustration was setting in with the Bobcats and was being showcased in a very classless manner. Then to make matters worse, immediately after Conley’s foul, coach Doug Davalos showed his displeasure by receiving a technical as well -- but his got him ejected from the game.
So Texas State had to play the remainder of the second half without their head coach and a vast hill to climb. The Bobcats got down by as much as 31 points in the half at the 9:46 mark. Things could not look any worse for Bobcat Nation.
But not so fast… That’s when things got a little interesting.
In the last nine-and-a-half minutes of the half, the ‘Cats outscored the Saints by 31 points. Junior transfer Travis Jones came into the game along with Ryan White and jolted the Bobcat crew. White, a senior guard and one of the captains on the team, took over primary ball-handling responsibilities like he did much of last year, and he did it well. White rammed the ball down the Saint’s throat quickly and efficiently to get his team back in the game. In the midst of their run, Jones hit back-to-back-to-back threes and gave Texas State some life. Forwards A.J. Stewart, Cameron Johnson and Tony Bishop also asserted themselves on offense in the second half, but most importantly on the defensive end. With a multitude of defensive stops and flawless execution on the offensive end, the Bobcats saw themselves back in the game with less than a minute to go in the game.
Texas State was down by one point with about nine seconds left on the clock. Our Lady of the Lake guard Robert Martinez made his first free throw but missed the second one, and Texas State grabbed the rebound with no timeouts left. White pushed the ball down the court and found Stewart streaking down the lane for a layup the knotted the score at 108. So the immaculate comeback was complete, and the game was going into overtime.
Both teams were going tit-for-tat in the extra period but tough defense by the Bobcats provided them with a narrow lead in the final minute. So the free throw contest began. The Bobcats have not shot the ball very well from the charity stripe all year long and this game was no different.
White was the sole free-throw shooter in the final minute of the game and he did a fairly good job at it. With three seconds left, White was back at the line with his team up 125-124. He missed his first free throw and the disappointment in his demeanor was obvious. However, to his credit, White stepped up and knocked down his second attempt. Then former Bobcat assistant coach and now head coach of the Saints, Russell Vanlandingham, called his final timeout. The Saints had to inbound from the far side of the court and had 3 seconds to nail their eleventh three-pointer of the contest. And due to poor ball pressure on defense, that is exactly what Martinez did. He caught the ball in the backcourt, took two dribbles, and hoisted up a relatively uncontested three pointer right in front of the half court line that banked in at the buzzer. Ball game. 127-126, and a new Texas State record for most points in a game was set.
It was a heart breaking loss for the ‘Cats considering how they battled back from 30 points in nine minutes, without their head coach, only to lose by a half court buzzer beater.
Credit must be given to assistant coach Rob Flaska who stepped in for Davalos and did an amazing job with the help of his other two assistant coaches, Terrence Rencher and Eric Brand. Maybe the outcome would have been different if Texas State didn’t shoot 33-55 from the free throw line and give up 39 points off of turnovers, but we will never know.
No rest for the weary though, as Texas State will be back in action this Saturday for the second half of a double header against North Texas. Tip off is set for 4:00 p.m. after the women’s game at 2:00 p.m. KTSW will have all the action on 89.9 FM and ktsw.net.
Robert Fisher, KTSW Assistant Sports Director
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