Texas State men’s basketball (1-1) picked up its first win of the season in a 71-53 victory over Mid-America Christian University (2-1). 
Texas State unveiled banners for the team’s 2021-22 Sun Belt Conference regular season championship and first-ever NIT appearance before the game and the ‘Cats served those banners right Thursday night. 
The Bobcats came out the gate scorching, they opened the game on an 8-0 run including six straight from junior guard Brandon Davis who led the team with 15 points total. 
MACU’s first points of the contest came from a layup by junior forward Seth Hurd at the 17:15 mark in the game. After another MACU 2-point jumper, Davis retorted with five more points of his own to make the score 13-4. 
From there, Texas State went on a 20-6 run, forcing five turnovers in the process. With the score at 33-10 and the clock at 6:43, the Evangels finally broke out of its slump and began trading buckets with the Bobcats. The teams would enter halftime with the score at 43-21. 
The ‘Cats held MACU to just 36% shooting and forced 12 turnovers in the first frame.
The Evangels spent the first nine minutes of the second half going on a 20-7 run including eight points off free throws. A sloppy pass from senior guard Mason Harrell allowed MACU to close the gap to just nine with a fast-break layup from sophomore guard Jaylon Barnett, making the score 50-41. 
A technical foul on sophomore guard Daraun Clark drawn by Harrell gave the Bobcats time to regroup. During the pause in the action, it was clear that coach Terrence Johnson wanted his team to turn up the intensity and they did just that. 
Texas State began full-court pressing MACU and forcing the issue on the offensive end. Nine made free throws allowed the ‘Cats to go on an 11-0 run to regain control of the game at 61-41.
Johnson said that things didn’t go exactly as he hoped, but he was glad his team got to experience some adversity. 
“We didn’t have the outcome that we set out or expected to have but that is a good team out there,” Johnson said. “It was good for our guys to have that experience. I told them leading up to the game that it would be about the response, and I thought we did that tonight and responded in a positive way.”
Harrell, junior guard Dylan Dawson and freshman forward Davion Sykes were the other Bobcats who finished as double-digit scorers.
Sykes’ performance was his second double-digit scoring night of the young season, making him the first freshman to reach double-digits in back-to-back contests since Nijal Pearson did so in the 2016-2017 season. 
Clark and Hurd finished as MACU’s only double-digit scorers with 12 and 10 points respectively. Texas State held MACU to just 37% shooting in the game, including a single 3-point make on nine attempts. 
Texas State will look to build off this performance in its next game against the University of Rhode Island. 
Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 12, at The Ryan Center in Kingston, Rhode Island.