Texas State Plays Host To Schreiner University

SAN MARCOS, TEXAS (Janaury 3, 2009) A two-game winning streak and personal milestone for head coach Doug Davalos will be on the line when the Texas State men’s basketball team plays host to Schreiner University in a non-conference game at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, Jan 3 inside Strahan Coliseum. The Bobcats will be looking to win their third straight game after defeating McMurry 112-70 last Tuesday night in Strahan. Texas State will also be looking to even its overall record to 6-6 against the Mountaineers.

In his third season as head coach at Texas State, Davalos will be looking to
post the 100th win of his career. He began his head coaching career at Sul Ross
in 2002.

Schreiner has a 1-8 overall record and a 1-5 American Southwest Conference mark
this season after falling 60-42 at Prairie View A&M on Dec. 30. The Mountaineers
defeated Texas Lutheran 69-67 on Dec. 18after opening the 2008-09 season with
losses to Trinity, Southwestern, Texas-Tyler, Louisiana College, Mississippi
College, Letourneau and East Texas Baptist.

THE SERIES
Saturday’s game will mark the 22nd meeting between Texas State and Schreiner and
the Bobcats enter the game with a 16-5 record against the Mountaineers. This
marks the first time the two schools have played against each other since the
1995-96 season when Texas State opened the season with an 86-51 victory.

SCOUTING TEXAS STATE
Texas State has a 4-1 record in home games this season after its 110-70 victory
over McMurry on Dec. 30 and its 82-68 victory over Prairie View A&M on Dec. 21.
The Bobcats suffered an 85-81 loss against New Orleans on Dec. 15. The Bobcats
defeated Huston-Tillotson 104-81 on Nov. 19 and Southwest Assemblies of God
110-65 on Dec. 3 in their first two home games of the 2008-09 season.

The Bobcats have lost four games this season by a combined 19 points after the
four-point loss against New Orleans. Texas State also suffered an eight-point
loss at Texas, a six-point at Rice and a one-point loss at Wyoming.

Brent Benson leads Texas State and ranks second among Southland Conference
leaders with 19.6 points per game after scoring a career-best 40 points against
McMurry. Brandon Bush is averaging 13.8 points and leads Texas State with 6.6
rebounds per game after netting 17 points and eight rebounds against McMurry.
John Rybak scored eight points is averaging 10.5 points. He leads the Southland
Conference in free throw shooting with 95.8 percent and is tied for second among
team leaders with 4.4 rebounds per game.

Cameron Johnson is chipping in with 10.0 points and 4.4 rebounds per game after
recording eight points and six rebounds versus McMurry. Johnson leads the
Southland Conference in field goal 13 points and five rebounds against Prairie
View A&M.

LAST TIME OUT
Senior guard Brent Benson scored a career-high 40 points and the Texas State
men’s basketball team used a 41-8 run in the final 11:17 of the game to
overpower McMurry 112-70.

The two teams battled back and forth throughout the first 30 minutes on the
contest. Benson scored 21 of his career-high total in the first half to lead the
Bobcats to a 49-43 lead at halftime. After McMurry pulled to within 71-62 with
11:17 left to play, the Bobcats turned up its defensive pressure as Texas State
collected seven of its eight second-half steals and forced 11 turnovers during
the next nine minutes.

On the offensive end, point guard Corey Jefferson tipped in his own missed
lay-up and Benson nailed a jumper to give the Bobcats a 75-62 lead. Texas State
never looked back as the Bobcats held a 110-70 lead with one minute to play.
Senior swingman Brandon Bush scored 11 of his 17 points and Benson added nine
more points during that span to lead Texas State’s run.

Jefferson scored a season-high 13 points and handed out eight assists for the
third time this season as the Bobcats improved their record to 5-6 overall this
season.

Texas State forced McMurry into 26 turnovers and collected 12 steals throughout
the game, while combining its best shooting performance of the season to post
its fifth win of the season.

The Bobcats shot a season-best 57.6 percent from the field, making 38 of its 66
field goal attempts, and shot a season-best 53.6 percent (15-28) beyond the
three point line. Benson made nine of Texas State’s three-point field goals,
equaling the school record he set earlier this year against Wyoming.

EXPLOSIVE OFFENSE
Texas State enters the Schreiner game with the nation’s third best offense after
averaging 90.5 points per game in its first 11 games. The Bobcats scored a
season-best 112 points against McMurry on Dec. 30, marking the third time that
Texas State has topped the century mark. The Bobcats also tallied 110 points
against Southwest Assemblies of God and 104 points versus Huston-Tillotson.
Texas State has scored 90 points in three more games this season.

SHARP SHOOTING BOBCATS
The Bobcats enter the Schreiner game leading the Southland Conference and ranked
fifth nationally in three-point shooting with 42.5 percent after making 102 of
its 239 three-point attempts.

Senior guard Brent Benson is second among SLC individual three-point field goal
percentage leaders with 53.3 percent (48-90) behind the three-point line. Benson
also leads the league in three-point field goals made leaders with a 4.4 per
contest.