Texas State senior point guard Ryan White had a career-high 26 points in the Bobcats’ SLC tourney quarterfinal win against Southeastern Louisiana. TXST fell the next night in the semifinals to top-seeded McNeese State, a loss that ended the team’s season. (Courtesy Texas State University)
From STAFF REPORTS
One of the most exciting seasons in years for Texas State University men’s basketball fans came to an end with a 91-83 loss to top-seeded McNeese State in the Southland Conference Tournament semifinals.
McNeese State, who received a bid to the NIT Tournament, went on to fall to Texas-San Antonio in Saturday’s SLC Tournament finals. The Roadrunners received a bid to the NCAA tournament.
McNeese State steadily built on a 37-29 halftime lead and led the Bobcats by 20 points with just under four minutes to play in the game, but Texas State didn’t go away quietly.
A pair of 3-pointers by Eddie Rios brought energy to the Bobcat offense, and five consecutive points by Brooks Yberra cut the Cowboys lead to 10 with less than a minute to go, but it would not be enough as the Bobcats fell short.
McNeese State came out after halftime and hit a quick three-pointer to take an 11-point advantage, and a three-point play by C.J. Collins with 7:50 left to go in the game stretched the Cowboys lead to 17 points. Travis Jones’ four-point play for the Bobcats when he was fouled on a made three-pointer, stopped a 7-0 run by McNeese State which cut the gap to 66-54, but Texas State never could make a serious push to threaten the Cowboys.
In the first half, it was all Tony Bishop and Cameron Johnson for the Bobcats as the duo combined for 21 points and 13 rebounds to keep Texas State close.
Bishop finished the game with 16 points and 13 boards to lead the Bobcats, who finished the season with a 16-16 overall record.
In Wednesday night’s SLC Tournament quarterfinal game against Southeastern Louisiana, senior point guard Ryan White helped the Bobcats rally from a halftime deficit.
White scored a career-high 26 points in Texas State’s 72-68 win. White and fellow senior Bishop both finished the game 8-for-8 from the free throw line. Bishop’s two free throws with under 10 seconds to play put the game on ice for the Bobcats.
