Men’s and Woman’s Bobcat Basketball Week In Review
Men’s basketball defeated By Arkansas-Little Rock
By: Sabrina Flores Senior Sports Reporter
With 9:56 remaining in the second half, Arkansas-Little Rock had two technical fouls called, one on the bench and one on Trojans Coach Steve Shields.
Montalvo proceeded to make three of the four free throws. As momentum seemed to shift to the Bobcats, the Trojans never allowed the Bobcats back in the game, resulting in the 69-61 win.
“We did not come ready to play,” Coach Danny Kaspar said. “I was very disappointed in our teams intensity the first half. We need to realize where we are at in the standings and play every game like it might be our last.”
In the first half the Bobcats could not get going offensively. On the first few possessions’ the Bobcats were able to find Gant in the middle of the Trojan 1-3-1 zone for a couple easy lay ups. Once Arkansas-Little Rock caught on, Texas State were unable to feed the ball inside the paint, forcing the guards to take outside shots. Texas State shot 32 percent the first half.
“We struggle to shoot the ball,” Kaspar said. “If we don’t play great defense we are going to get beat. I’m trying to get the team to be one of the better defensive teams that’s because I know I don’t have a great shooting team.”
Arkansas-Little Rock is last in the conference in defensive rebounding, allowing 38.1 rebounds from their opponents this season. The Trojans out rebounded the Bobcats, 42-27. Trojans had 28 defensive rebounds while limiting the Bobcats to 11 offensive rebounds.
The Trojans proved that they are able to convert offensively without Josh Hagins, Trojans junior guard, on the court. Hagins got in some early foul trouble, forcing Shields to limit his playing time. Hagins finished the game with nine points, three points shy of his scoring average.
Mareik Isom, Trojans sophomore forward, played 13 minutes in regulation and led the team with 14 points.
Texas State had four players in double-digit figures. Emani Gant, senior forward, led the Bobcats with 14 points and nine rebounds. Cameron Naylor, junior forward, and D.J. Brown, senior guard, combined for 23 points and nine rebounds.
Jamarcus Weatherspoon, junior guard, added 10 points coming off the bench. Ethan Montalvo, junior guard, missed six shots from the field, contributing five points from free throws. Montalvo came off a 15-point game against South Alabama.
Texas State drops to a .500 record, 11-11 overall and 5-8 in Sun Belt Conference play.
“It comes down to the leadership you have on the team,” Kaspar said. “That’s what I just got done finished challenging this team. You can’t have players that are happy when they score 14, but you lose you got to have players who really want to win and are happy regardless of who gets the credit or who’s getting the points or rebounds.”
Women’s Basketball Loses To Top-Seeded Arkansas-Little Rock
By: Matt Gurevitz, Sports Reporter
Coming into the matchup, the Texas State women’s basketball team knew they had a tough test against Arkansas-Little Rock.
The Trojans are in first place in their conference and have been beating opponents by an average of 14.5 points per game.
Texas State stuck with Arkansas-Little Rock to start off the game. The Bobcats held a 16-15 lead mid-way through the first half, and the Trojans leading scorer, Taylor Gault, senior guard, was going to the bench with a nose bleed.
Texas State had an opportunity to make a run, but they failed to do so. Gault re-entered the game after a nose bleed and Arkansas-Little Rock went on a 16-5 run to end the half.
The Bobcats lost 70-43, the teams’ largest losing margin on the road. “I felt like we did a good job on Gault,” Coach Zenarae Antoine said. “They just had other kids who did well finding and hitting open shots.”
Arkansas-Little Rock are 15-0 record when leading at halftime and their second half dominance was in full effect. The second half opened up on a 12-2 run by Arkansas-Little Rock and the Trojans showed why they are in first place in the Sun Belt.
The 43 points the Bobcats scored is the second lowest scoring game of the season for them. y. Their current season-low was when they only scored 37 points against Oklahoma State on Nov. 29, 2014.
This win brings the Trojans record to 12-1 in the Sun Belt and their lead for first place continues to grow. Texas State falls to 8-5 in conference play and the Bobcats are now tied for third with the Troy Trojans.
“It was one of those afternoons where we really struggled offensively,” Antoine said. “We missed early looks and we didn’t have two crucial starters out there.”
Texas State sustained two injuries late in the first half. Ayriel Anderson, junior guard, injured her left shoulder on a hard fall and Meghan Braeuer, senior guard, hurt her ankle.
Both players returned in the second half, but neither were 100 percent. Braeuer played one minute in the second half as she iced her ankle.
“We had injuries that certainly effected the game,” Antoine said. “Ayriel was doing a good job before the injury. Megan and Ayriel bring a level of comfort for the team. I knew it would be tough to get rolling with a younger team against a superior team.”
Texas State struggled shooting from the field all afternoon. The team shot 23.7 percent on 59 shots. The leading scorer from Texas State was Erin Peoples, junior guard, with seven points.
“We need to keep surging ahead,” Antoine said. “This game doesn’t define our season. We need to just honestly move on.”
The Men’s Basketball story was written by Sabrina Flores and Women’s Basketball was written by Matt Gurevitz . Both are are reporters from the University Star, where these stories originally published. They are reprinted here through a news partnership between the University Star and Corridor News.
