University Star

The Bobcats shot a season low 12.5 percent from the floor connecting on 12 field goals in a 75-50 loss to UT-Arlington Thursday. The Bobcats fell short, 84-69, to Louisiana Tech University.

The 25-point loss was Texas State’s worst defeat since Dec. 10, 2011, their 86-52 fall to Texas. They missed their first seven shots of the game. The team’s starters shot 3-21, 1-12 from the 3-point line.

The Bobcats, down 7 early in the second half, were outscored 15-5 in the next 6 minutes. The action allowed the Mavericks to extend their lead to 16 with 12 minutes to go. The Bobcats would not see another basket fall through the nets till the 6:54 mark.

“It was a very aggressive game,” said Coach Doug Davalos. “A lot of hand checking and a lot of physicality. We didn’t get a lot of open looks, and they took us out of what we want to do.”

Four Bobcats combined to shoot 0-16 from the floor while the team’s scoring leaders, junior and senior forwards Joel Wright and Matt Staff, combined for 12 points and 10 rebounds. Wright snapped a 13-game streak of scoring in double figures. Junior forward Reid Koenen led the Bobcats with 12 points.

The Bobcats committed a season high 23 turnovers and were out-rebounded 49-36. Brandon Edwards finished with 11 rebounds and Jordan Reves added 10. Texas State never held the lead during the game.

The Bobcats did not overcome WAC-leading Louisiana Tech University, despite having four players in double figures. Wright led the Bobcats with 13 points, Koenen added 12 and sophomore guard Wesley Davis and Basil Brown contributed 11 each.

Field goal percentage wasn’t the only concern for Davalos. Texas State shot 52 percent, 10-19, from the foul line.

“We did a pretty good job of getting to the foul line,” Davalos said. “But we missed our free throws. We have struggled from the free-throw line, mightily. It was a shame we missed so many free throws as I thought we played them well. We gave up so many free opportunities.”

Raheem Appleby led all scorers with 21 points and dished out four assists. Alex Hamilton supplied 15 and Isaiah Massey added 10 points. Precision from the Bulldogs dominated the Bobcats in the second half, shooting 93.8 percent from the line, 55.6 from beyond the arc and 51.9 from the floor.

The Bulldogs’ high shooting percentage was attributed to 38 points in the paint. The Bulldogs also capitalized off of 17 turnovers from the Texas State.

“They’re a better team than us,” Davalos said. “I thought we fought them and we brought the fight to them. But one of the biggest differences was we turned the ball over. If we could have kept our turnovers down in the 12 range I feel like we could have won that game.”