The Texas State men's basketball team continued Friday night's success with a win against Sul Ross State 89-62 right after their fellow women's team won by 30. The new and improved Bobcat basketball team looked every bit as impressive in their season opener. Now, it's understood that this was Sul Ross, and not a Top-25 team, but the 'Cats had chemistry and athleticism that was definitely showcase quality.
From the opening tip-off, it was quite obvious that Texas State was ready to take it to a different team with new faces for a change, instead of beating up one another. After working so hard in the off-season, getting Eddie Rios, A.J. Stewart and the new recruits acclimated with the returners, their time had come, and once 7:00 on Friday rolled around, the Bobcats took it to the Sul Ross Lobos. Sul Ross' offense featured a lot of one-on-one dribble drives with back door cuts that were pretty effective, but only for about the first ten minutes. The Bobcats' tight man-to-man defense was the bulk of their 42 first-half points. Defense led to easy transition offense as the 'Cats tallied up nine steals in the first half to go along with a plus-eleven gap on the glass. The four big post players for Texas State (Stewart, Bishop, Johnson and Conley) asserted themselves in the paint early as they combined for 20 of the team's 27 rebounds.
Granted, a lot of these numbers have to do with the fact the Sul Ross simply did not have the size nor the talent to match up with Texas State, as most Division-III schools don't, so a lot of these stats just came easy. However, one new gem I saw in the Bobcats' offense (that you will hear me reiterate often) is the high-low between Cameron Johnson and A.J. Stewart. Due to the fact that both forwards can handle the ball and shoot pretty well from mid-range, their style of play is virtually impossible to guard. It will definitely be something to watch come Southland Conference play.
Another impressive note that came out of Friday's match was the aggressive and very productive play of Tony Bishop and Jonathan Sloan. Now I know what you're saying, "Yeah, how many times have I heard this in preseason play?", but according to the players, these two guys have been on a mission this off-season to assert themselves in their senior seasons. Hopefully for the Bobcats, this keeps up, because if it does there will not be a team in the Southland Conference that can match Texas State's depth in the front court. Bishop finished the game with 14 points and ten boards while Sloan netted ten points to accompany nine rebounds.
Preseason All-Conference forward Cameron Johnson added eleven points and nine rebounds, and most impressively, J.B. Conley went home Friday night having put up 19 points and eight rebounds. Nonetheless, the team as a whole looked great outside of their 20 turnovers and thirteen percent shooting from deep (2-15), but that's just me being picky.
The Bobcats will be back in action Tuesday night at 7:00 against Long Island University in San Marcos. WAC Commissioner Karl Benson will be in attendance, so come out to Strahan Coliseum and be a part of the fun. KTSW will have pregame coverage starting at 6:30 on 89.9 FM and ktsw.net.
Robert Fisher, KTSW Assistant Sports Director
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