Texas St. 86, Fordham 76

Joel Wright had 19 points and 12 rebounds as Texas State defeated Fordham 86-76 Friday night in the season opener for both schools.

Matt Staff and Corey Stern added 17 and 16 points, respectively, for the Bobcats while grabbing nine rebounds apiece.

Chris Gaston led Fordham with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Branden Frazier added 18 points and Bryan Smith had 16.

Texas State closed the first half on a 10-3 run to go up 41-34 at the break, and led 61-44 when Reid Koenen hit a 3-pointer with 11:55 remaining.

The Rams answered with a 16-4 run that included two 3-pointers and a layup from Smith to pull within 65-60 with 6:46 left. That was as close as they got, however, as the Bobcats pulled away and hit 8 of 10 free throws in the final 1:02.