Texas State men’s basketball (7-14, 1-8 Sun Belt Conference) fell short in every category, which led to a 66-46 loss against the University of Louisiana-Lafayette (13-8, 6-3 Sun Belt Conference) Sunday afternoon at the Cajundome in Lafayette.
“I thought we did a good job of weathering the storm early on,” Texas State Head Coach Terrence Johnson said. “Louisiana is a team that can turn it up fast on you, which happened in the second half. Their threes, on top of our turnovers, made things difficult for us, and we never recovered.”
Within the opening three minutes of the first half, the Ragin’ Cajuns went on a 6-0 run, which led to an early timeout for the Bobcats. Texas State responded with a 7-0 run sparked by senior guard Dylan Dawson.
Texas State held the lead for approximately 50 seconds then ultimately did not see a lead for the remainder of the game. The Ragin’ Cajuns put together an 11-0 run to take a 30-24 lead into halftime.
The Bobcats had no answer in the second half, as it took them five minutes to score their first basket, and they found themselves trailing 38-26. The Ragin’ Cajuns didn’t let their foot off the pedal and established a 21-point lead halfway through the second half.
Junior guard Themus Fulks led the charge for the Ragin’ Cajuns, finishing with 23 points alongside junior forward Kobe Julien, who added 19 points.
Dawson was the only Bobcat to score double digits finishing with 10 points. Sophomore forward Davion Sykes and junior forward Brandon Love combined for eight points and two blocks.
Next, Texas State will return home to face South Alabama University (10-11, 3-6 Sun Belt Conference).
“We have a small margin for error, so hopefully we take some things from today’s game to help us get better for Thursday night against South Alabama,” Johnson said.
Tip-off between Texas State and South Alabama is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 1, at Strahan Arena. The game will be available to stream on ESPN+.
