Bobcats fight off comeback against Mid-America Christian

Texas State’s home opener was much closer than fans expected as the Bobcats knocked off Mid-America Christian in a 71-53 win.

After a long road trip to Pullman, Wash. to battle Washington State, head coach Terrence Johnson said it was nice to play inside the friendly confines of Strahan Arena on Thursday.

“It’s good to be back at Strahan Arena in front of the home crowd. We didn’t have the outcome that we set out or expected to have but that is a good team out there,” Johnson said. “It was good for our guys to have that experience. I told them leading up to the game that it would be about the response, and I thought we did that tonight and responded in a positive way. Mid-America is a good team and really well coached, but our guys stepped up and fought where we were in control of the game throughout.”

After the season-opening loss to the Cougars, it was an opportunity for the team to understand that they could do better, according to junior transfer Brandon Love.

“It was a good experience to start off the season,” Love said. “We came up short of course but collectively we learned from it and we needed that to show us what high-level basketball is leading up to this game and for the rest of the season.”

The Bobcats jumped out on MACU early in the first half Thursday to a 13-4 lead before going on an 18-2 run to extend the lead at 31-8.

The key to Texas State’s fast start was the Bobcats’ shot selection.

“I thought early on we were picking our shots a little better,” Johnson said. “We moved the ball a little better and we didn’t settle.”

As Texas State entered the second half up 43-21, MACU started to chop into the lead.

MACU outscored the Bobcats 20-7 in the beginning of the second half as the Evangels made it 50-41.

The game, however, was flipped when MACU was called for a technical foul.

As freshman Davian Sykes sat with his teammates during the timeout, the light switch turned on for the team.

“At that point we realized they were trying to take over the game,” Sykes said. “During the timeout when the technical foul was called, it was time for us to be locked in and hold everything down … we when we had to take the game in our own hands.”

Despite having a low-shooting percentage in the second half, it was the Bobcats excellent free-throw shooting that pushed Texas State to make a 10-0 run and keep MACU at bay.

In fact, it was the opposite of the Bobcats last game against Washington State.

“Free-throw shooting was what kept us from the victory the last time,” Johnson said. “We missed 14 free throws the last time we played, which is very uncharacteristic of us … on the technical foul, there are momentum swings that you have to take advantage of. Credit to MACU for getting to us and turning us over early on while speeding us up which we were not poised at the time.”

Texas State then controlled the game for the rest of the half as the Bobcats won 71-53.

The Bobcats are on the road for the next two games against Rhode Island on Saturday which was played after press time, before traveling down the road in a massive rivalry matchup with the UTSA Roadrunners.