Bobcats extend winning streak in MAC-SBC Challenge

By Jerry Castro

KTSW Sports Reporter

SAN MARCOS — Saturday afternoon, the Texas State Bobcats took on the Ball State Cardinals at Strahan Arena in the MAC-SBC challenge; the Bobcats came out victorious with a 68-60 win.

The Cardinals came out swinging on offense as they took an early 10-2 lead at the 16-minute mark of the first half. However, this didn’t faze the Bobcats, as they clawed their way back from the deficit by attacking the rack and hitting open guys for easy buckets. The Bobcats went into halftime with a 37-31 lead over the Cardinals.

When the Bobcats came out of the locker room following the break, you could see their underlying confidence as they ran onto the floor. With that confidence, the Bobcats showed the Cardinals why they were on a three-game winning streak, swiping at the ball for steals and being selfless.

The Bobcats were up 51-39 in the middle in the second half thanks to their defense, and when asking Coach Johnson about how their defense is different from the start of the season, he said, “To buy in, what I’ve told the guys in the locker is that they must understand this is how they’ve won games and not necessarily your ability to make the shots.” With a game total of 13 steals, you could see that every guy on the floor had a defensive mentality on that floor.

The Cardinals tried to get back the lead, but they fell short as they took the 68-60 loss. For the Bobcats this extends their winning streak to four games, which is a season high for them. When asking Davion Sykes about how this four-game winning streak he said, “We just come in with a one-day better mentality, we’re not trying to get too high on ourselves or too low and everything is going to solve itself”. 

The Bobcats will begin a four-game road trip starting off with going against South Alabama this Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at the Mitchell Center.