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Texas State extended their win streak to five games with a hard 75-66 win over the Rice Owls.
The Bobcats and Head Coach Terrence Johnso improved their record to 7-3 overall.
“That's a really, really good team,” Johnson said. “That's a championship level coach, that team was 3-0 against the Sun Belt and that means something. …. So I'm proud of these guys. They did a heck of a job. um and um, you know, I'm just um, you know, we just found a way to grind it out and get it done.”
Senior forward Tyrel Morgan led the Bobcats with a team high 20 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double.
Commenting on the win, Morgan noted how the victory sets the Bobcats up for success going into conference play.
On his success during the game, Morgan took advantage of several key mismatched opportunities the Bobcats had on their in-state rivals.
“Just finding mismatches my team gave me,” Morgan said. “They challenged me to remain giving him these guys a spark, so that was my main goal to keep everybody up lifted and positive.”
“This game set the tempo for us for the rest of the season,” Morgan said. “This was a really good win.”
Senior guard Drue Drinnon, who finished with 11 points including going 3-3 from beyond the arc, agreed with his teammate on the significance of the win.
“It's huge,” Drinnon said. “We prepared all week. Going into conference [play] it's a big momentum swing for us. So it's huge for us.”
Despite falling behind 8-2 to Rice in the beginning of the first half, Texas State clawed their way back into the game before taking the lead at 11-9 following junior guard Coleton Benson’s three-pointer with less the 12 minutes remaining in the first half.
Texas State failed to give up their lead for the remainder of the game but not until Rice made several comeback attempts both in late stages of the first half and in the second half.
The Owls cut the deficit under double digits multiple times only for the Bobcats to have a response back and prevent Rice from completing the comeback.
A key to the Bobcats win was their dominance in the paint. Texas State outrebounded Rice 37-28 and scored 28 points in the lane en route to the win.
“It’s a mentality,” Johnson said. “We believe in keeping the game simple. We think the game is better inside out. So we're fine with shooting threes, but we like the ball to touch the paint.
“It increases our percentages on a perimeter. So we just try to keep the game simple and play our strengths.”
For Drinnon, being the more physical team is what helps the Bobcats continue to win games.
“The toughest team wins,” Drinnon said. “We came out in the first half a little slow but we showed if we're tough, and we come with that physicality, and it's hard to compete with us.”
Texas State returns to play Saturday on the road against Florida Atlantic.
