{"id":184591,"date":"2026-02-28T16:25:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T16:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/184591\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T16:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T16:25:07","slug":"texas-state-defeats-app-state-twisting-up-sun-belt-basketball-seeding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/184591\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas State defeats App State, twisting up Sun Belt basketball seeding"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN MARCOS\u00a0\u2014 Texas State men\u2019s basketball<\/a> guard Mark Drone turned to watch Appalachian State\u2019s last-ditch 3-pointer sail through the air. Strahan Arena, which had been raucous Friday night, held its breath as Kasen Jennings’ shot threatened to upend not just the momentum the Bobcats had built up over the game’s final minutes, but also everything they had accomplished in February.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The shot careened off the rim and the crowd erupted as Texas State defeated the Mountaineers 60-57 \u2014 its seventh victory in eight games.<\/a> As the fifth seed in the upcoming Sun Belt tournament, the Bobcats<\/a> have a path to the NCAA Tournament that looked improbable a month ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that these games happen when they\u2019re supposed to happen,\u201d Texas State head coach Terrence Johnson said.<\/p>\n

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An imperfect season<\/p>\n

Johnson said his team takes pride in doing two things particularly well: rebounding and free-throw shooting. The Bobcats struggled to do both against the Mountaineers, going 9 of 15 from the charity stripe and losing the battle on the glass 42-28.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Bobcats have gotten used to things not going their way. They began the season with a 35-point loss to Bowling Green. Johnson said he wondered during a win over Southern in December why they couldn\u2019t dominate the way they should. And after a 25-point loss to James Madison in January, it seemed the team was destined for mediocrity, fated to never quite figure it out.<\/p>\n

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And yet, when Bobcats forward Kyndall Davis stepped to the line with 38 seconds left Friday, he drained both free throw attempts to give his team a 58-55 cushion. When App State guard Eren Banks’ 3-pointer with two seconds left clanged off the iron, Drone, who was one of the smallest players on the court, perfectly timed his jump to earn the game-sealing rebound.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew the season wasn\u2019t gonna be perfect,\u201d Davis said. \u201cBut we needed them (the earlier season losses) so we could be the team that we are today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas State Bobcats guard Mark Drone (4) drives to the basket as Texas State men’s basketball takes on Troy at Strahan Arena in San Marcos Wednesday,Feb. 11, 2026.<\/p>\n

Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

App State, meanwhile, had a hold of the top spot in the Sun Belt at one point. But consecutive losses to Marshall and James Madison in February threw the Mountaineers off track. Although they bounced back last Saturday, Johnson said they weren’t the same team they had been when they were leading the conference.<\/p>\n

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So when App State jumped out to an early 17-8 lead, Texas State didn\u2019t panic. The Bobcats managed to stay within range. They entered halftime up 34-33, giving them the belief they needed to earn the win.<\/p>\n

Texas State forward DJ Hall continued to cement himself as the Bobcats’ best freshman since Nijal Pearson, putting up 14 points, 11 rebounds and three assists. But Drone was the star that powered Texas State to the win on Senior Night, recording 23 points, three rebounds and four assists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was absolutely fearless. It didn\u2019t matter whether or not he was going up against a guard or two bigs; he was going to find a way,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

A new era for Texas State<\/p>\n

The Pac-12 looms as a massive leap in competition. Texas State will be entering a conference in which a majority of the programs \u2014 Gonzaga, San Diego State, Utah State and Colorado State \u2014 are perennial NCAA Tournament attendees with access to resources and finances that Texas State simply doesn’t.<\/p>\n

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Johnson said that it will be extremely challenging for the Bobcats to compete with the top of the Pac-12. However, he has faith in Texas State President Kelly Damphousse and athletic cirector Don Coryell.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I think they understand,” Johnson said. “But I also think that they’re willing to figure out what they can do, some unconventional ways that they can help us.”<\/p>\n

Success in the Pac-12<\/a> will not come easily for Johnson and Texas State. However, it won’t be the first time the Bobcats have had to get creative. And before any of that comes the Sun Belt Championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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“We just need to be locked in, focused on the task at hand and take it one game at a time,” Drone said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN MARCOS\u00a0\u2014 Texas State men\u2019s basketball guard Mark Drone turned to watch Appalachian State\u2019s last-ditch 3-pointer sail through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2692,19752,1771,9330,38940,27,29,28,9327,51458,1927],"class_list":["post-184591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-college-basketball","tag-men-s-college-basketball","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-division-i","tag-sun-belt-conference","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-texas-state-bobcats","tag-texas-state-bobcats-basketball","tag-texas-state-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}