Bobcats season ends at the Sun Belt Tournament Semifinals

Texas State’s run in the Sun Belt Conference Basketball Tournament ended last Sunday as the Bobcats fell to the James Madison Dukes 73-68.

The defeat for Head Terrence Johnson and the Bobcats ultimately came down to James Madison’s ability to out rebound Texas State with Dukes rebounding the ball 39 times compared to the ‘Cats 29.

“This was going to be a tough outing for us,” Johnson said. “We had to do some things right and clean up some stuff. This is a very good, well coached and uber talented team. We made some costly mistakes down the stretch, but at the end of the day, it comes down to the plus ten in rebounding. ... It showed we needed to finish plays if we were not going to the free throw line.”

Texas State had trailed by as many as 15 points to James Madison, only for the Bobcats to tie the game up in the middle of the second half at 55-55.

A 5-0 run by the Dukes allowed James Madison to seize control of the game as Texas State was unable to tie the game back up or take the lead.

But despite the loss, Johnson was proud to see his team come together for another deep run in the Sun Belt Tournament after starting conference play at 1-9.

“Winning is fun but even more so is reaping the fruits of your labor,” Johnson said. “These guys put in a lot of work. I am demanding, and the standard is the standard. They either meet it or exceed it. There is no other way around it.”

Before their game against James Madison, Texas State battled the Troy Trojans in the Sun Belt Quarterfinals.

In a furious battle, the Bobcats knocked off the Trojans 74-68 to advance in the tournament.

Texas State became the first team in the Sun Belt Men’s Basketball Tournament to advance to the semifinals as a double digit seed in consecutive years after making an appearance in the Sun Belt Semifinals last season as a double digit seed.

Texas State seized control of the game at the end of the first half as the Bobcats trailed 30-28 with 1:25 remaining in the period.

Following a layup from sophomore forward Davion Sykes to tie the game 30-30 with only 49 second left, sophomore guard Jordan Mason hit a buzzer beating three pointer before halftime to give the Bobcats a 33-30 lead.

Texas State led for the entire second half en route to the win behind career high scoring by Mason finishing with 25 points.

cmcwilliams@sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc