Texas State takes Senior Night win over Little Rock, 68-50

Shelby Adams was Mason Harrell’s host when Harrell took his official visit to Texas State in 2018.

Harrell, a senior point guard for Carl Albert High School in Midwest City, Okla., at the time, was being heavily sought after by the Bobcats. 

“He was already Gatorade Player of the Year in Oklahoma, you know, getting like 40 balls and things like that. I'm like, ‘Come on, bro. We need you.’ He's like, ‘Yeah, for sure, you know, I gotta think about it,’” Adams said. “But then by the end of the weekend, I kind of had a feeling. I was like, ‘He's gonna come here.’ And then eventually he came here.”

The pair of guards have been close friends since then, helping each other on the court and becoming each other’s roommate off of it. Entering Saturday, the two had won 81 games together across four years with the maroon and gold.

All good things must come to an end, though. Adams and Harrell played with each other on the Strahan Arena court for the last time on Saturday, helping the team to a 68-50 win over Little Rock on Senior Night.

“I'm just blessed to be able to say my last game was a dub, so that's always a good thing,” Adams said. “And you know, it’s just a lot of mixed emotions, but I'm happy we came out and won the game, for sure.”

Five players were recognized during the Senior Night ceremony prior to the game against the Trojans (8-16, 3-9 Sun belt) — Adams, fifth-year senior forward Isiah Small, Harrell, senior guard Caleb Asberry and redshirt junior guard Darien Jenkins.

Adams and Small won’t have any eligibility remaining after this season, making Saturday the last home game of their collegiate careers. Harrell and Asberry still have a season of eligibility left and Jenkins has two, meaning there’s a chance they could return to Texas State next year.

It’s similar to what the team dealt with in 2021, when there were five seniors with a season of eligibility left. Adams and Small both came back, Quentin Scott and Alonzo Sule transferred elsewhere and Marlin Davis joined the coaching staff as a graduate assistant.

And similar to Senior Night last season, this year’s seniors haven’t made those decisions yet.

“Everything's still up in the air,” Harrell said. “Right now, I'm just focused on the season, going into March Madness and becoming another Sun Belt champion.”

“I'm not really even concerned about it, that's really not how I go about my day. You know, I'm just kind of living in the moment and I want those guys to feel comfortable with where they are right now and what they're doing right now,” head coach Terrence Johnson said. “You know, I think it's a great thing that they have the option to come back due to COVID. But it also can be a huge distraction.”

Harrell led the team with 19 points, followed by senior forward Nighael Ceaser with 12 points and eight rebounds. Ceaser is another Texas State player who has one season of eligibility left, though he chose not to participate in the Senior Night ceremony.

None of the Bobcats’ other seniors had the best night of their respective careers. Asberry was hit in the face twice and also appeared to hurt his right ankle, coming out of the game multiple times due to injury and finishing the night with eight points. Adams had six points, Small had four and Jenkins had two.

But together, they lifted Texas State (19-6, 9-3) to its seventh-straight win. And with Troy losing to Coastal Carolina on Saturday, the maroon and gold are now one victory away from clinching their second consecutive Sun Belt regular season championship.

The team will play in its final games before the conference tournament next week on the road, taking on South Alabama (18-9, 8-6) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and Troy (18-9, 9-5) on Friday at 8 p.m. — the second game airing on ESPN2.

The Bobcats’ seniors went out on a high note in their last games at Strahan Arena. They’re hoping to do the same with the rest of their season.

“It's good that we've been there, done that, you know, when you can say that,” Johnson said. “You've got guys that have kind of been through it all and seen most of it. So, certainly, these are two really good teams, playing well, well-coached teams. But I wouldn't want to be with any other group of guys.”