Texas State falls to Old Dominion on heartfelt buzzer beater

Texas State’s comeback fell short as the Old Dominion Monarchs defeated the Bobcats on a buzzer beater winning 70-68.

As ODU’s Imo Essien dribbled full court before hitting the floater to beat the clock, senior guard Mason Harrell, who lead the team in scoring with 17 points, and the Bobcats were committed to not fouling the dribbler/ shooter with the game tied at 68-68 with only four seconds left in the game.

“We were playing them trying not to foul,” Harrell said. “But he took it all the way down to the end and shot a little floater. In that situation, we have to force a turnover or get a stop.This is something we can learn from and we will be better next time.”

Though head coach Terrence Johnson believes that the loss doesn’t fall on a single moment, Johnson still took responsibility for the last play of the game.

““It was a game that we felt like we let get away for a number of different reasons,” Johnson said. “The game doesn’t come down to one play, but the one play in particular is the last one. I failed to get our guys in the right position to take away a straight-line drive. We will look at film and see where we could have been better, but that one play is going to stick out in my head.”

Though the effort was there, it was a series of mistakes that the Bobcats could not overcome.

“These guys played hard and did most of the things we asked them to do over the course of the game,” Johnson said. “But we didn’t make a couple of plays down the stretch that could have won the game for us.”

One of the key factors in Old Dominion’s win was the ability to attack the basket and the paint.

The Monarchs had 34 points in the lane which not only caused issues for senior forward Nate Martin, who scored 10 points, and the Bobcat defense in terms of scoring but also the ability to pass it out to the other shooters on the outside.

“We were letting them get to the paint a lot,” Martin said. “They were coming down hill and either got fouled, finishing at the basket, or kicking out for the wide open three. It’s hard to defend when we are giving up in the middle so they really exploited us in that way.”

Because of their success in the paint, Old Dominion caused chaos against Texas State.

“One of the things that they were doing to us was driving,” Johnson said.

“They were driving us because of the physicality of the game. The physical screens up top and then they were getting to their sweet spots. If you look at the size disparity, those guys were able to get into the middle of the floor and play off their pivots so the middle drives definitely hurt us.”

On the positive side, the Bobcats were able to keep up with the ODU offense as five players scored in double figures while scoring the most points in a game since Texas State’s 70-67 win over Georgia Southern.

“For the most part, guys were taking good shots,” Johnson said. “The ball is in the hands of people who are shooting the shots that they shoot. We have been doing a better job of that when you notice that in the past couple of games we have multiple people in double figures in scoring because we are sharing the ball and taking good shots.”

Texas State is back on the road this week as the Bobcats travel to Boone, N.C., for a Thursday night showdown with the Appalachian State Mountaineers.

cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc