Texas State tops Coastal Carolina for road win

A back and forth affair saw the Texas State men’s basketball team (13-16, 6-10 Sun Belt) pull out a 78-75 win over Coastal Carolina (11-17, 5-11 Sun Belt) in the HTC Center on Saturday afternoon. The victory keeps the Bobcats’ hopes alive to claim a bye for the first round of the tournament.

“Great game! I’m proud of our guys. We were resilient today and kept fighting and believing,” said head coach Terrence Johnson. “It was a total team effort but I can’t say enough about Mason Harrell’s leadership. He was indeed the difference maker in this game. We brought culture to the floor today and I’m proud of the team.”

Mason Harrell led all players with 22 points on 6-of-11 shooting and made all nine of his free throw attempts while dishing out three assists. Also reaching double figures was Nighael Ceaser, Tyrel Morgan and Jordan Mason with 15, 13 and 12 points, respectively.

The first two and a half minutes was the Morgan show as he netted the first eight points for TXST, including back-to-back three pointers. The Bobcats led until the Chanticleers scored six straight points to go ahead by three. They would maintain the advantage until the halftime buzzer.

Six consecutive points were scored by Texas State to end the half with one being a putback slam by Ceaser. Looking to get the last shot of the period, Brandon Love caused a turnover and he quickly threw the ball to Harrell. The senior guard found Davion Coleman under the bucker for a layup that saw the ball go through as the horn sounded to send the game into the break tied at 34.

CCU would go up by as much as five at 46-41 following an 8-0 run. The Bobcats were able to close the game and eventually stretched the advantage to seven after a 6-0 run with just under five minutes left on the clock.

A 9-2 run for the Chants tied the game at 72-72 with 1:24 remaining. Mason was able to get to the rim for a layup to put Texas State back in front. However, CCU’s Antonio Daye converted an old-fashion three-point play to give the hosts a one-point advantage with 36 seconds to play.

Ceaser got a friendly bounce on a close attempt to put the Bobcats ahead 76-75. Daye would see a three-point attempt be off target. Harrell grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 1.8 ticks left. He knocked down both attempts to stretch the lead to three. CCU was able to get a last second attempt off, but the attempt fell well short of the rim.

Next up for the Bobcats is a meeting with South Alabama on Wednesday at 7 p.m. inside Strahan Arena.