No. 4 Seed Texas State Advances Past Southeastern, 72-68
By Brandon C. Williams
Southland.org
KATY, Texas - For all the highs and lows that his team has endured this season, Texas State coach Doug Davalos feels his Bobcats would make a good choice for a made for television movie.
For now, he'll relish in the fact that they'll advance to the Southland Conference semifinals for the first time in eight years.
A 26-point night from guard Ryan White - combined with several huge defensive stops in the final minute - allowed fourth-seed Texas State to get past fifth-seeded Southeastern Louisiana 72-68 on Wednesday night, giving the Bobcats 16-15 an 8:30 p.m. date against top-seed McNeese State Thursday night.
"These guys have been through too much together," said Davalos. "Nothing amazes me about these guys."
Injuries, a six-game losing streak and the dismissal of forward A.J. Stewart hasn't slowed the Bobcats' chances at the school's first tournament title since 1997, so no one was rattled when Texas State missed 14 of their first 20 shots while committing nine turnovers in the game's first 13 minutes.
Inch by inch, Texas State fought back from a 30-21 deficit with 1:53 left in the first half, and it was White who began the long road back with a 3-pointer that gave Texas State a needed jolt of confidence and helped them close the margin to 33-28 at intermission.
The 5-foot-10 senior guard then dialed up the intensity after intermission; White played all 20 minutes of the second half (and 39 of 40), willing the Bobcats into the lead, one they took for good when he made a driving layup with 11:30 remaining to give them a 50-49 advantage.
"He put us on his shoulders," said Davalos. "He was tremendous on both ends of the floor."
The Bobcats did a solid job in containing the guard play of Southeastern Louisiana (15-14), cooling off the backcourt of Trent Hutchin and Brandon Fortenberry. The Lions' duo came into the night averaging a combined 26.9 points per game, but White and fellow Texas State guards John Bowman and Travis Jones held them to a total of 6 of 20 from the field.
"Our guards didn't hit shots, but they played their butts off on defense," said Davalos. "That's why we won the game."
Unable to get consistency from their guards, the Lions focused on attacking Texas State's front court, a plan that worked for much of the game. Southeastern Louisiana held a 32-22 edge in scoring inside the paint as forwards Jason Marks (11 points), DeShawn Patterson (10) and David Ndoumba (12) also combined for 19 of the Lions' 31 total rebounds on the night.
Trailing 66-60 at the 4:28 mark, Southeastern Louisiana inched within a point when Fortenberry hit a pair of free throws with 2:15 left. Fortenberry later hit a 3-pointer with 1:06 left to keep the Lions alive, down just 70-68.
After forcing a Texas State turnover with under 30 seconds left, the Lions had one last chance to push the issue, but Hutchin was unable to corral an errant pass with 10 seconds remaining, setting the stage for Tony Bishop to seal the Bobcats' victory with a pair of free throws.
Bishop had 18 points and was a perfect 8 for 8 from the line as Texas State shot 87.5 percent (21 of 24) from the charity stripe.
"We had our chances, but we just didn't make it happen," said Lions coach Jim Yarborough.
Texas State Quotes
Coach Doug Davalos
Opening Statement: "First of all, I'm tired of playing Southeastern Louisiana in this tournament. They're really good. Jim Yarbrough is arguably one of the top coaches in this league and his guys always play tough. I thought both teams played their tails off in the second half and that's what you have to do. I've always said good guard play can get you in the postseason and Ryan White put us on his 5-10 shoulders and carried us."
On Ryan White: "He was tremendous on both ends of the floor. He came out of the game for one sip of Gatorade, that's all I could afford to have him out of the game."
On Cameron Johnson: "Cameron really played tough tonight. I thought he was also the best he's been defensively. He had four steals and two blocks. He took a lot of pride in helping those guards out tonight. He said that's got to be key, because they're going to run them off screen after screen leaving the low post open. I thought our guys did a great job all night long defending."
On win tonight and mindset moving forward: "I told the team before the game this is a team of resiliency and there should be a TV show about what these guys went through this season to get here. From losing players to season ending injuries, to having a player dismissed from the program, getting down by 15 points at the half and coming back and winning games late in the season to put us in first place in conference, these guys are just so resilient and that was evident tonight."
Ryan White
On run to start second half and win: "I felt like we had to keep making stops, keep it tight and the shots started to fall for us. It feels really good to be on this side now. Southeastern got us last year but we were able to come out on top this time."
Southeastern Louisiana Quotes
Coach Jim Yarbrough
Opening Statement: "It was a tough loss. I told coach Davalos after the game that our contract to meet in this tournament is over after this year. I think we're both glad to see each other in the conference tournament each season but my hat is off to Texas State, they have a chance now in the semifinals to make things happen. From my perspective, the last time we played them we gave up 82 points at their place and they had the big push in the second half so tonight we were expecting the same type of game. Our guys followed the game plan very well but we had missed opportunities and turned the ball over at critical times. It was a game where we had to make a play or two but weren't able to do that."