During the first half of a Texas State men’s basketball 81-73 loss against Marshall on Jan. 19, graduate guard Mason Harrell didn’t appear in the second half due to an undisclosed injury. 
“He was going up for a floater and kind of took a shot… definitely impaired him for the rest of the game [against Marshall],” head coach Terrence Johnson said following the loss against Marshall. “Mason’s a tough player… he’s been knocked down a whole bunch of times and gotten back up… this particular time he wasn’t able to respond in the second half.”
This injury, which has been acknowledged but not fully revealed by Johnson, has kept him out of the lineup for three games thus far against conference opponents. The absence of Harrell, who leads the Bobcats this season with 16.2 points per game (PPG), has forced other contributors on the team to get more minutes on the court.
The night of Harrell’s injury, three Bobcats picked up the slack of the leading scorer and finished with career-high points; senior guard Drue Drinnon finished with 17, freshman guard Jordan Mason finished with 10 and junior forward Nate Martin finished with 16.
“Understand that there’s a void to be filled,” Martin said. “If no one steps up to it… it’s going to lead to hurting us.”
The void was filled by Mason the following game, a 60-51 loss to Louisiana on Jan. 21, when he netted a career-high 19 points and spent 32 minutes on the court, nearly doubling his season average minutes of 16.2.
In a 70-67 win on Jan. 26 against Georgia Southern that snapped a three-game losing streak, junior guard Davion Coleman also stepped up in lieu of Harrell’s injury. With a season average of nine minutes on the court, Coleman spent 34 minutes on the court in the victory and finished with a career-high 16 points.
In the victory, Mason finished with 12 points in 33 minutes, his third straight game with 10 or more points. Johnson said that defensively, Mason still needs to adjust but he believes in his player and is happy with how he’s stepped up.
“It’s not that often where you call a play down the stretch for a freshman,” Johnson said. “The sky’s the limit for the kid.”
In a competitive Sun Belt Conference, the Bobcats have missed its leader, both in scoring and on the court. Coleman said, however, that the mindset of the team has helped them throughout Harrell’s injury.
“Our team is so connected that it doesn’t matter who comes off the bench or who starts,” Coleman said.