Bobcats Fall In Sun Belt Opener At Appalachian State

Next up for the Bobcats is Coastal Carolina on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. CT to conclude the opening weekend road trip of Sun Belt play.

BOONE, N.C. – Despite 18 points from Nijal Pearson and a career-high tying 12 points courtesy of Eric Terry, the Texas State men’s basketball team fell to Appalachian State 66-62 in the Holmes Convocation Center to open Sun Belt Conference play.

Pearson finished 7-of-14 from the field and 4-for-5 at the free throw line, and Terry converted 5-of-6 shot attempts.

 The loss drops the Bobcats to 7-7 on the season and 0-1 in conference play while the Mountaineers are now 6-8 overall and 1-0 in the SBC.

A 10-0 run for TXST was capped off by a fastbreak slam from Pearson to put the Bobcats ahead 52-43 with 11:33 remaining in the game. Following six straight APP points, Pearson converted two free throw attempts and Marlin Davis hit a floater in the lane to maintain a seven-point advantage with 6:31 left on the clock.

The Mountaineers scored 12 of the next 14 points to take a 61-58 lead. Tre’Larenz Nottingham got a layup to fall in traffic to cut the deficit to one. The junior then knocked down two free throws the next offensive possession to give the Bobcats a 62-61 lead at the 1:41 mark.

Ronshad Shabazz made 1-of-2 at the charity strip to tie the game. Nottingham again got into the lane for a layup attempt and drew contact but no whistled sounded as the Mountaineers grabbed the board. Justin Forrest then hit only the third trey of the second half for APP to put them up 65-62.

A three-point attempt from Marlin Davis was off the mark the next time down the court for the Bobcats. The Mountaineers sealed the game with a free throw.

Pearson gave TXST its first lead of the game nearly four minutes in when he converted an old-fashion three-point play. With 14:35 on the clock, Pearson powered home a layup to start a 6-0 run for the Bobcats that culminated with a layup by Terry nearly 90 seconds later.

APP responded with 11 consecutive points that was ended on a mid-range jumper by Reggie Miller from the right corner.

Immanuel King slammed home a dunk to kick start a 7-2 run for the Bobcats. It culminated in a three-pointer by Alex Peacock, the only made trey of the game for Texas State, from the top of the arc that cut the deficit to 23-22 with 7:36 remaining in the opening stanza.

Following a three-pointer from the Mountaineers’ O’Showen Williams, TXST scored the next six points to take a 28-26 lead at the 5:19 mark. However, APP would score 10 of the final 17 points to take a 36-35 advantage into halftime.

The Bobcats scored the first six points of the second half on two layups from King and one courtesy of Pearson.

Appalachian State came back to take its first lead of the period at 43-42 with 14:33 remaining on a layup. Two free throws by Nottingham kicked started the Bobcats run of 10 consecutive points.

The third Texas State player to reach double-figures on the night was Nottingham with 10. He shot 3-for-8 from the field and converted all four of his attempts at the charity stripe. Both the Moreno Valley, California native and Davis dished out a game-high three assists.

Both Peacock and Pearson were credited with two steals apiece while Nedeljko Prijovic and Terry blocked one shot each.

The Bobcats shot 46.0 percent (23-50) from the field but were 1-for-9 (11.1%) from beyond the arc and 15-of-23 (65.2%) at free throw line. They were also outrebounded 36-35 with a 12-7 disadvantage on the offensive glass that led to 11 second chance points for the Mountaineers.

Defensively, TXST held APP to 37.0 percent (20-54) shooting but the Mountaineers connected on 11 three-pointers.

Next up for the Bobcats is Coastal Carolina on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. CT to conclude the opening weekend road trip of Sun Belt play.

For the latest on Texas State men’s basketball, visit the official website of Texas State athletics at www.txstatebobcats.com, follow the team on Instagram and Twitter at @TxStateMBB and like on Facebook at /TexasStateMensBasketball.

Box Score: http://txstatebobcats.com/boxscore.aspx?path=&id=5172