Bobcats can’t get past Little Rock in Sun Belt Championship rematch

Texas State knew what it was up against.

The Bobcats fell to Little Rock twice last year, once in the regular season on Jan. 13, 2018, 63-48, and the other on March 11, 2018 in the Sun Belt Championship, 54-53. The Trojans are as tough a challenge as ever this year, boasting a top-50 defense in the NCAA, giving up just 58 points per game.

“(We’ve) had the opportunity to play against (the Trojans) and have an understanding of how they’re going to play,” head coach Zenarae Antoine said after Texas State’s game against Appalachian State on Jan. 12. “They’re not going to look different, (head coach Joe) Foley does not change what he does.”

Little Rock proved it still has the Bobcats’ number, as Texas State was defeated again on the road Thursday in Arkansas, 62-47.

Both teams kept things close at the beginning of the game. Freshman guard Kennedy Taylor drained a 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter to give the maroon and gold a 17-14 lead. But the hosts came back in the second to tie things up at 27-27 at the half.

Senior guard Toshua Leavitt canned a triple to start the third quarter, but the Trojans used an 8-0 run to retake the lead. The Bobcats never trailed by more than five points during the period until Little Rock went on a 5-0 run in the last minute to go ahead 47-39 heading into the fourth.

The visitors’ offense went cold in the final 10 minutes. The hosts scored another four points at the beginning of the quarter to extend their lead to double digits, and kept it that way for the remainder of the game. Texas State scored just eight points as Little Rock secured the 62-47 victory.

The Bobcats finished the game with six assists and 15 turnovers. Leavitt led the team with 15 points, followed by Taylor with 13 and senior forward Zandra Emanuel with nine to go along with 10 rebounds.

"We had too many turnovers against a really good team," Antoine said. "We cannot turn the ball over as much as we did and expect to come out with a win. We are a young team, played a bunch of young players and it showed."

Texas State (8-9, 3-2 Sun Belt) took on Arkansas State in Jonesboro, Arkansas on Saturday at 4 p.m. The game ended after press time.