Bobcats men slip past Seattle

Texas State junior forward Joel Wright fights for a loose ball with Seattle forward Louis Green during Thursday night’s game. Wright was one of four Bobcats in double figures, as they handed the Redhawks a 67-65 loss.

When Seattle University forward Chad Rasmussen missed an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer, it assured Texas State its first win at home since Dec. 8, 2012. Everything the Bobcats did between then and when the final seconds melted off their 67-65 win, however, mattered more.

To begin with, Texas State played more as a team than it did ever in a Western Athletic Conference home game. If the Bobcats — who were down two players (sophomore guard Wesley Davis and junior forward Corey Stern), since head coach Doug Davalos suspended them before the game — were to beat the Redhawks, that’s what they had to do.

“We knew coming in here they weren’t going to be playing, so there were only going to be eight of us out there,” Texas State junior guard Reid Koenen said. “We weren’t going to be able to do it with one or two people.”

Usually when the Bobcats (9-19, 4-11 WAC) play inside Strahan Coliseum, they only get one or two people to step forward. Back on Jan. 4, junior forward Joel Wright outscored his teammates 33-31 in Texas State’s 79-64 loss to Denver and two weeks later, senior forward Matt Staff led Davalos’ bunch in a disheartening defeat to UTSA.

By halftime of Thursday’s game, six Bobcats played at least 10 minutes and scored four chipped in six or more points. Staff and junior guard Deonte’ Jones led the charge as they combined for 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting (5-of-10 from behind the arc).

“Guys had each other’s back and that was fun to see,” Davalos said. “It’s going to be like that all the way down the stretch.”

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