Texas State vs. UT-Pan American Basketball Game 12/5/09

Despite committing 30 turnovers, the Texas State Bobcats mens basketball team escaped with a win Saturday, hanging on to beat the Texas-Pan American Broncs 80-70 at Strahan Coliseum.

Junior Cameron Johnson, the 6-7 power forward, recorded a double-double with a season-high 24 points and 10 rebounds, as the Bobcats held off a strong comeback by UTPA in front of an afternoon crowd of a little less than 900.

Jared Maree scored 20 points along with four rebounds and a game-high four steals, to lead the Broncs. Guards ChaRunn Jones and Ben Smith were the only other Broncs to put up double figures, each adding 12 points to the effort.

Texas-Pan American (1-8) dropped its third game in a row and is losing by an average margin of 21 points to start the season.

Guard J.B. Conley provided scoring and energy off the bench for the Bobcats, chipping in 11 points and six rebounds, while starters John Bowman and Uriel Segura scored 10 points each as Texas State shot a season-best 57% from the field.

Texas State led 42-23 at the half, and extended that lead to 21 points midway through the second half. But turnovers continued to plague the Bobcats as Texas-Pan American rallied back with a 27-9 run to close within five points with just over a minute left in the game.

The Bobcats defense held the Texas-Pan American squad to only 39% shooting from the floor and out-rebounded the Broncs on the glass 37-24.

Head coach Doug Davalos team jumped out to an early 22-11 lead by going inside to Johnson early and often, as UTPA lacked an interior shot-blocking presence. Johnson finished 11-for-14 from the field but only shot 2-for-6 from the free throw line as both teams struggled at the charity stripe, combining to shoot only 60% on 58 free throws.

It was a physical contest as the officials whistled 54 fouls between the two teams. Four players ended up fouling out, including Texas States Bowman and senior forward John Rybak.

Late in the game, trailing 72-64, Texas-Pan American hit a three-pointer to cut the deficit to five. But the Bobcats tightened up their defense again and closed out the game by going 8-for-10 from the line.

After averaging 9.5 points per game and 5.3 rebounds during his sophomore year, Johnson has stepped up to lead the Bobcats with 13.5 points and 7.9 rebounds per game to start the 2009-10 season.

With the victory, Texas State improved to 3-5 on the season and remained undefeated at home here in San Marcos.

The Bobcats will now travel to Dallas to take on the 2-3 SMU Mustangs Monday night before playing the nationally ranked #2 Texas Longhorns in Austin next Saturday.

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