Montalvo Leads Bobcats To Conference Opening Victory Over Eagles

by Pongratz, Assistant Sports Information Director TXStateBobcats.com 

 

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State men’s basketball team never trailed after Ethan Montalvobanked in a three-pointer to start the game in an 80-66 victory over Georgia Southern Wednesday night in Strahan Coliseum. The Eagles nearly made it a close contest late in the second half until the Bobcats made key stops down the stretch.

 

“The way we broke out in front of them I thought it could have been a forgone conclusion the last 10 minutes, but we let them sneak back into the game,” said head coachDanny Kaspar. “I was disappointed we could not stop their drives to the basket. On the other hand, we did outrebound them and shot the ball well from everywhere on the court.”

 

With the win, the Bobcats improve to 7-3 overall and 1-0 in the Sun Belt Conference while the Eagles drop to 4-7 and 0-1 in league play.

 

Montalvo scored a game and season-high 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting and was 4-for-8 from long range. He just missed tying his career best in points by one that was set exactly one year ago to the day at Troy.

 

Both Emani Gant and Kavin Gilder-Tilbury reached double figures with 16 and 15 points, respectively.Bobby Conley recorded seven points to set a new career-high after making 3-of-4 shots with a made trey. Grabbing a third of the team’s rebounding total was Anthony Roberson with 12, matching his career best set earlier this season at Prairie View A&M.

 

Texas State held GASO’s leading scorer, Tookie Brown, to 3-of-13 shooting. The only spot on the floor he excelled was the one area that the Bobcats couldn’t put a hand in his face, the free throw line. He went 7-for-8 to account for half of his point total. Ike Smith also finished with 14 points after going 8-for-10 at the charity stripe.

 

Montalvo’s opening three sparked a 20-5 run for the Bobcats to open the game. Gilder-Tilbury’s lone trey of the contest at the 13:45 mark put TXST in front by double-digits (16-5) the rest of the way.

 

The largest lead for the Bobcats was 22 when Maljhum McCrea made a layup at the 11:40 mark of the second half. However, the Eagles fought back to make it a 10-point game with just over two minutes to play after two free throws by Smith. Texas State’s defense forced the visitors to miss their final five shots of the game to end their chance of a comeback.

 

Next up for the Bobcats is the defending SBC tournament champions Georgia State on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at home.

 

This Game Recap originally published by TXStateBobcats.com.