By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
The Texas State Bobcats shot with a high rate of efficiency early, and then they hit the offensive boards relentlessly in the second half Wednesday night en route to an 80-69 victory over the UTSA Roadrunners.
In the men’s college basketball game played at Strahan Arena in San Marcos, the Roadrunners fell behind by 17 points early and climbed back into contention gradually, pulling to within six three times in the last 11 minutes.
A jumper out of the corner by Brent Moss trimmed the Texas State lead to 67-61 with 4:17 remaining.
In retaliation, Bobcats freshman forward Robert Fields made a big play on the other end. He followed his own miss from close range and passed out to Dimp Pernell, who knocked down a corner three, boosting the lead back to nine.
UTSA never came closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Pernell, a junior transfer out of Jones College in Ellisville, Miss., came off the bench to score 19 points to lead five Texas State players in double figures.
Kaden Gumbs, DJ Hall, Franck Emmou and Makai Willis all scored 11 for the Bobcats, who won their first game of the season against NCAA Division I competition and improved to 2-2.
For the Roadrunners, who fell to 1-2, Jamir Simpson knocked down four 3-pointers and scored a season high 22. Freshman Kaidon Rayfield, continuing to play well, added 16 points and nine boards. Off the bench, Brent Moss scored 12 and Baboucarr Njie added 11 for UTSA.
Njie, a sophomore from Dayton, Ohio, was productive on both ends, collecting four rebounds and two blocks in 34 minutes.
In the early going, the Roadrunners couldn’t contain the Bobcats’ offense. Texas State hit five of its first six shots from the field and seven of its first 11.
From there, the home team knocked down a series of free throws and held a 25-8 lead when Willis sank a jumper with 8:42 remaining in the half.
In an effort to stop the barrage, UTSA switched to a zone defense, forced some misses and pulled to within 12 points at intermission.
After halftime, the Roadrunners stayed in the zone for much of the remainder of the game.
And while the ploy was effective in keeping the Bobcats from shooting it as well, they found another way to win, utilizing their quickness to hit the boards on missed shots to create more opportunities.
In the second half, Texas State out-rebounded UTSA 27-18, including 11-5 on the offensive glass, which in large part led to 14 second-chance points.
By beating the Roadrunners, the Bobcats have played well now in two straight games against teams from the American Conference. On Saturday night, they led in the first half in New Orleans at Tulane before falling 77-71.
Now they’ve opened a five-game homestand with a victory over their I-35 rivals.
“You can’t give a good team like Texas State a 17-point lead in the first half,” Coach Austin Claunch told the UTSA broadcast team in his post-game interview. “They’ve been playing really well.”
UTSA, in turn, has been struggling to make even modest improvements. In a 77-60 home loss to SIU Edwardsville last Friday, the Roadrunners shot poorly from the field (28.2 percent), from three (24.1) and from the free throw line (61.9).
Against Texas State, they misfired on 15 of their first 20 shots from the field but finished the game by making a respectable 20 of 39. But for the game, a 39 percent effort wasn’t good enough to off-set the Bobcats’ 47-33 dominance in rebounding.
Asked in the postgame if he could point out the bright spots, Claunch said, “You love to see the fight. You love to see them battle. I’ll be honest with you, (those) were some of the best huddles we’ve had. Just the engagement.”
Claunch said he liked Njie’s engagement with his teammates, particularly, in pushing Moss down the stretch.
“I thought Bab Njie did a great job from a leadership standpoint, just talking and getting guys (to keep playing hard),” the coach said. “Like, that’s Brent Moss. He’s had some (moments.) I haven’t done a good job getting him acclimated and probably giving him enough of a chance.
“Today, he showed what he can do.”
Records
Texas State 2-2
UTSA 1-2
Coming up
UTSA at Denver, Saturday, 1 p.m.
Notable
Combined with a 72-62 win on Nov. 27, 2023, Texas State has won two straight in the I-35 rivalry series against UTSA. With Wednesday’s victory, the Bobcats improved to 37-27 against the Roadrunners all time, dating back to 1985.
For the third straight game to start the season, UTSA guard Vasean Allette wasn’t available to play. Claunch most recently attributed his absence to health issues.
The coach said Monday he expects Allette to play this season. “He’ll be in a ‘Runners uniform soon enough,” Claunch said. The 6-2 guard, a starter last season at TCU, is regarded as UTSA’s top offseason pickup out of the transfer portal.
Guard Austin Nunez continued to struggle with his shot from the field, misfiring on all seven attempts, some of them on wide open looks. Nunez has hit only two of 23 combined against SIU Edwardsville and Texas State.
First half
Willis produced nine points and four rebounds in the first half as the Bobcats pounded out a 38-26 halftime lead. Gumbs also had a big half with eight points and five assists.
Texas State led by as many as 17 points in the half, when the Bobcats shot 45.2 percent from the field and scored seven points off eight Roadrunners turnovers. UTSA was held to 38.5 percent shooting.
The Bobcats scored the game’s first nine points and kept on rolling. When Gumbs drove baseline and was fouled, he hit two free throws for a 9-0 lead with 16:49 remaining. They went on another run, going off 11-0, to make it 25-8.