All good things come to an end. The Texas State men’s basketball team (9-3) found that out Wednesday night when its eight-game win-streak was snapped by the Houston Cougars (11-2) in an 80-47 game.
It looked to be a rough night from the jump as Houston opened the game on a 7-0 run. The Bobcats managed their first make on a mid-range jumper off a pump-fake from senior guard Caleb Asberry.
Houston’s defense was stiff, good looks and drives to the basket were hard to come by for the ‘Cats. That was evidenced by two Texas State shot-clock violations in the first eight minutes of the game.
A step-back three from junior guard Marcus Sasser was answered by a trey from senior forward Isiah Small. A few possessions later, Small would hit on another triple, but this time it was Sasser who returned the favor, making the score 15-8.
From there, Houston took off. The Cougars went on a huge 30-14 run to close the half with the score at 45-22.
Houston feasted on kick-out threes. The Cougars penetrated the Bobcat defense and used Texas State’s aggression against them to set up clean looks from distance. All that resulted in nine made first-half three-pointers for the Cougars, while the Bobcats could only connect on nine total shots in the first frame.
Texas State had a nice start to the second half with good looks at the rim for senior forward Nighael Ceaser and senior guard Shelby Adams. A few possessions later, senior guard Mason Harrell would find Adams on an open three that would cut the lead and make the score 50-31.
After that, Houston went on another back-breaking 17-0 run that essentially put the game away at 67-31 with 10:06 to play.
Graduate center Josh Carlton was the game’s top scorer after he bullied his way to 20 points, almost all of which came from inside the paint. Sasser and senior guard Kyler Edwards each made four treys on their way to putting up 13 and 14 points respectively. Sophomore guard Jamal Shead was the other double-digit scorer with 12 points, he also collected a double-double after tossing out 10 assists.
Adams was the only Bobcat who could crack double-digits with 10 points. Ceaser came off the bench to add nine points, and Small would round out the ‘Cats top scorers with eight points.
Points off turnovers, a stat Texas State had excelled in over their win streak, was flipped on them Wednesday night. The Bobcats coughed up 19 turnovers, which turned into 23 points for Houston. The Cougars only gave up half as many turnovers and Texas State could only get nine points from them.
After the game, Coach T.J. Johnson made it clear there was room for improvement heading into conference play, but he’s still proud of the fight his team had.
“I thought we struggled a little bit with the physicality and speed of the game,” Johnson said. “Only shooting four free throws is a factor on the road and allowing our opponent to make 13 out of 28 three-pointers is a problem. We have a little way to go but I’m proud of the effort our guys have put forth thus far in the non-conference. We are going to get back to the drawing board and get ready for a tough Sun Belt Conference starting out with Troy and South Alabama.”
The Bobcats will begin Sun Belt Conference play with a game against Troy. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 30 at Strahan Arena in San Marcos. The game will air on ESPN+.