Five Texas State Men’s Basketball Players In Double-Figures Over Trojans

TROY, Ala. – All five starters scored in double-figures for the Texas State men’s basketball team in the 75-71 victory over Troy on Monday in Trojan Arena.

It was the first time that five Bobcats scored at least 10 points in a game since Jan. 15, 2015 in a victory at Georgia State.

The Bobcats improved to 10-7 on the season and 2-2 in the Sun Belt Conference while the Trojans are now 10-9 overall and 2-3 in conference play.

“This was a great comeback road win after the disappointing loss on Saturday,” said head coach Danny Kaspar. “I thought the guys played very good defense tonight and had major contributions from a lot players including freshman.

Down by one after a Troy three-pointer, Texas State scored seven of the game’s next 10 points that began with a three-pointer by Kavin Gilder-Tilbury. The Trojans answered with a 7-2 run to retake the lead 15-13 with 8:17 left in the first half.

Four straight free throws from the Bobcats followed by a layup from Ojai Black put the Bobcats back in front for the rest of the half. Nijal Pearson netted the final points of the period for Texas State on a layup after Maxwell Starwood grabbed an offensive board between two Trojan players.

Troy’s Jeremy Hollimon hit a jumper from just inside the free-throw line for the final points of the half to make it 27-23 in favor of the Bobcats.

Marlin Davis attempted a long three-pointer from 30 feet away that clanked off the frontend of the iron as the halftime buzzer sounded.

Opening the second half with six straight points was the Trojans. The Bobcats responded by scoring 23 of the next 30 points in the contest over a 7:11 span.

Pearson led the way during the stretch with seven points and Bobby Conley knocked down two treys.

Troy fought back to get within five, 64-59, with 2:17 remaining after Hollimon converted an old-fashion three-point play.

Pearson answered with a triple and then slammed the ball home after beating the Trojan press on an inbounds pass

In the final 22 seconds, Troy hit two three-pointers but Ojai Black converted all four of his free throw attempts in the span as well to seal the victory for the Bobcats.

Gilder-Tilbury paced all players with 17 points and dished out a game-high five assists. He also grabbed seven rebounds and blocked two steals.

With his final points of the game, the senior moved into 16th on the program’s career scoring list to pass Jeff Foster and currently has 1,085 in his career.

Pearson recorded his second career double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. The freshman also finished with three assists and three steals.

Conley netted 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting with three made three-pointers. He added four rebounds, three assists, a block and a steals.

Both Immanuel King and Black contributed 12 points apiece. For King, it was his first double-digit scoring game in a Bobcat uniform.

The Bobcats outrebounded the Trojans, the second best rebounding team in the league, 38-32. Offensively, Texas State shot 47.2 percent for the game thanks to going 16-for-22 (72.7%) in the second half.

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 Twitter at @TxStateMBB, Instagram at @TxStateMBB and like on Facebook at /TexasStateMensBasketball.

Box Score: http://txstatebobcats.com/boxscore.aspx?path=mbball&id=4744