Leading up to the final home game against James Madison where the Dukes needed a win to seal the outright Sun Belt regular season title, senior Tyrel Morgan knew the feeling of watching another team cut down the net at Strahan.
“Two years ago, Southern Miss ended up sealing the title on our floor,” Morgan said. “That’s just something we never forgot. It wasn't a good feeling seeing another team cutting down nets on our home floor. So we made sure it didn't happen this year.”
Though senior Tylan Pope wasn’t a part of the team that year, the story of Southern Miss cutting down to nets at Strahan to celebrate winning the title gave the power forward extra motivation.
“I'm like, ‘Nah, I ain't going for that,’” Pope said. “It just put things in perspective for me and ever since [Christian Turner] said that, I was locked in. Just that approach is very disrespectful on our home court. So I did whatever it took not for them to not do that.”
Behind 23 points from Pope and 19 points from Morgan, Texas State defeated James Madison 102-93 in double overtime to not only win the final home game of the regular season but deny the Dukes the outright Sun Belt regular season title.
The Bobcats win forced a four-way tie for first place between Arkansas State, James Madison, South Alabama and Troy.
Head Coach Terrence Johnson was proud of his team for not only rallying in the second half to force the game into overtime but also locking in for two overtime periods and finding a way to win.
“Basketball is a transition sport,” Johnson said. “You're going to have opportunities, obviously, maybe 30 some seconds, to make a play that will help your team win. We figured out a group of guys that had a certain tick about themselves tonight. They just started clicking, and sometimes that's not easy to find. It's a puzzle piece. and you got a lot of capable guys, but we got the right mix of players on the floor at the right and critical time throughout the game.
“I thought the way that those seniors came out in the second half set the tone and it gave us hope that we can come back and make this a game. I have to commend the seniors for that.”
Texas State trailed for all of the first half with James Madison holding their largest lead at 13 points.
Going into halftime, the Bobcats were down 41-33.
Despite trailing, Johnson knew his team was still in the game.
“Sometimes you look at the score and you think they are in a worse situation than you're actually in,” Johnson said. “Coach Maths did a really good job letting these guys know that we're in this game
and it's just a few possessions away from really making it tight on them. Those guys had a lot riding on this game and we felt if we made the game a little bit tighter, it would have an effect on them.
“We came out with the mindset to win the first four minutes, start guarding a little bit better. We had zero kills in the first half, and we wanted to start guarding them a little bit better, a little bit more physically.”
With the change in mindset, Texas State started cutting into the lead.
Opening the second half on a 8-0 run, the game was tied at 41-41 within the first five minutes of the half.
James Madison regained the lead but was unable to put Texas State away.
Following a jumper from Morgan, the Bobcats took their first lead of the game at 64-63 with seven minutes remaining.
With 12 seconds remaining in regulation, junior Mark Drone made the basket to put the Bobcats ahead only for the Dukes to hit a pair of free throws with three seconds left to send the game into overtime at 77-77.
James Madison took their largest lead in overtime up 86-81 only for the Bobcats to go on a 6-0 run to lead 87-86 with less than four seconds remaining.
The Dukes were fouled with one second left, going to the free throw only to miss the first attempt.
James Madison made the second free throw which sent the game into a second overtime tied at 87-87.
Going into the second overtime, Johnson made his message simple.
“Do not put your head down and be disappointed that you didn't win it in the first overtime,” Johnson said. “That’s the biggest adjustment throughout the overtime is just to not harp on, not finishing it out in regulation or not finishing it out in the second overtime.”
For Morgan, the win was going to come down to who wanted it the most.
“Everyone was tired,” Morgan said. “It came down to who wanted to win the most and it was our time. We just stayed together, stayed focused and made it happen.”
The Bobcats opened up the second overtime on a 13-2 run and led James Madison 100-89 capped off by an emphatic two-handed dunk by senior Joshua O’Garro.
Holding the Dukes to just six points in the period, the Bobcats came away with the win 102-93.
Along with Morgan and Pope, five players finished in double figures. Junior Coleton Benson was second in scoring with 21 points followed by junior Mark Drone with 18 points. O’Garro was fifth in scoring with 12.
The win secured the seventh seed for the Bobcats in the Sun Belt Tournament where Texas State will begin play in the third round.
