Avenging their loss last Saturday, Texas State defeated Southern Miss 85-82 in overtime in spite of the Bobcats playing just seven players with the roster dealing with injuries.
The Bobcats and Head Coach Terrence Johnson improve their record to 11-8 overall and 4-3 in conference play.
“Wow what a game,” Johnson said. “That is a really good team that has a number of different weapons and they don't have a necessarily defined weakness. I'm super proud of my guys because I'm not so sure that we ran any play right today, but we made the plays that we needed to make when we needed to make them.”
The Bobcats were short handed against the Golden Eagles with point guards Mark Drone, Drue Drinnon and Kaden Gumbs out along with senior power forward Tyrel Morgan. With Drone and Gumbs being declared out the day before the game. Seven players saw the court for the Bobcats with only six having 25 minutes of playing time.
“I really didn't know how we would score,” Johnson said. “But we had a good shoot around where guys were focused and then tried to find opportunities to drive the ball and attack the basket.”
However
“The next guy I got to step up,” Junior shooting guard Coleton Benson said. “We've really been saying that all year it feels like. Just believing no matter what the circumstances. We all have faith and belief in one another. That's really what it comes down to.”
Texas State jumped out to a 5-0 lead following a three-pointer from senior power forward Tylan Pope and a two point jumper from senior power forward Christian Turner.
Southern Miss answered with a 8-3 run and tied the game at 8-8.
The two teams then traded the lead back and forth with neither team holding a lead larger than four points. After nine minutes of play, Texas State led 23-21.
Southern Miss went on a 8-0 to retake the at 29-23 to hold their largest lead of the half at five points.
After trading baskets to make it a 36-31 game, Texas State closed out the first half on a 8-3 run and tied the game at 39-39 going into halftime.
Texas State opened the second half on a 8-0 run following two three pointers from Benson.
However, Southern Miss answered back with a massive 17-3 run to retake the lead at 57-50.
Southern Miss held on to the lead seven minutes remaining in the game at 70-63.
Following a Benson jumper, Southern Miss hit the three pointer for their largest lead of the game at 73-65.
The Bobcats responded by going on a 8-2 run, cutting the lead down to 75-73.
Southern Miss added two free throws to extend the lead at 77-73 with two minutes remaining in the game.
Christian Turner added a free throw to make it a one possession game as the contest entered the final minute.
After collecting the rebound, Pope went the full length of the court and made the layup, cutting the deficit down to one point with 48 seconds remaining in the game.
Regaining possession, the Bobcats made another attempt to regain or tie the game.
Driving into the lane, Pope was fouled and later hit the game tying free throw. Southern Miss was unable to convert the game winning shot to send the game into overtime.
In overtime, both Texas State and Southern Miss traded the lead back and forth before the game was tied at 82-82 with 1:44 remaining.
On the Bobcats next possession, Benson hit the three-pointer with 1:27 remaining to put Texas State up 85-82.
Southern Miss was unable to score again, allowing Texas State to seal the 85-82 win.
Pope finished the game with a game high 28 points along with 12 rebounds, completing the double-double. Benson had 23 points, shooting 5-10 from beyond the arc.
The Bobcats are back on the road Thursday for their showdown against Louisiana.
