Maroon & Gold Weekly Wrap-Up

Maroon & Gold Weekly Wrap-Up:

Men & Women’s Basketball

Wheels up to New Orleans for the
2019 Sun Belt Conference Tournament

 SAN MARCOS, Texas – March Madness has officially begun for the Texas State men’s basketball team (23-8, 12-6 Sun Belt) as they are set to make an appearance in the 2019 Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

As the No. 4 seed, the Bobcats will receive a bye to the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament before taking the floor at 5 p.m. on March 15 at the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans.

Their opponent will be either No. 5 Louisiana, No. 8 South Alabama, or No. 9 Arkansas State. South Alabama and Arkansas State will participate in one of the two play-in games held on campus sites (Mobile, Ala.)  on March 12 to earn a trip to New Orleans. The winner of that game will face No. 5 Louisiana in Nola on March 14.

View the official championship bracket here.

The Bobcats will make their fifth appearance in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament and has a 5-4 overall record. They will enter as the No. 4 seed for the second time.

The last time Texas State was the No. 4 seed (2016-17), they played their way to a championship appearance but fell to No. 6 seed Troy, 59-53. The Bobcats all-time series history in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament can be found below.

Bobcats all-time series records in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament:

2-1 vs. UT Arlington
1-0 vs. Georgia State
1-0 vs. ULM
1-0 vs. Coastal Carolina0-1 vs. Troy
0-2 vs. Louisiana

Texas State will limp into this year’s tournament after dropping three of its last five games to close the season and are currently on a two-game losing streak.

Nevertheless, the Bobcats have put together their best season in program history since joining Division I with 23 regular season wins and 12 Sun Belt Conference victories.

TXST will bring an experienced roster to New Orleans featuring seven players that have logged minutes in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

Junior guard Nijal Pearson leads that group, averaging 14.2 points and 6.2 rebounds in five tournament games.

The other players with recorded minutes include senior guard Tre’Larenz Nottingham, senior forward Alex Peacock, junior forward Eric Terry, junior forward Quentin Scott, junior forward Shelby Adams, and junior guard Marlin Davis.

Poor second half costs TXST in 44-41 loss to UTA

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State women’s basketball team (14-16, 9-9 Sun Belt) saw an 11-point halftime lead evaporate in a 44-41 loss to the UT Arlington Lady Mavericks (23-6, 15-3 Sun Belt) on Saturday afternoon inside Strahan Arena.

The result, coupled with a 59-50 Appalachian State win over South Alabama, signifies Texas State will be the sixth seed in the 2019 Sun Belt Conference Championship. The Bobcats will take on the winner of the South Alabama-Louisiana game on March 13 at 2 p.m. in New Orleans.

“These games are really hard, especially when you had a chance to win,” head coach Zenarae Antoine said. “We struggled with execution at the end of the game, whether that was making free throws, finishing the defensive possession with a rebound or executing the play at the end. I feel for the seniors. This was a tough game to end on for them.”

Senior guard Toshua Leavitt was the lone Bobcat to reach double figures in the scoring column. She tallied a game-high 16 points on 5-of-17 shooting from the floor. She added five steals in 40 minutes of playing time.

UT Arlington had a pair of double-digit scorers. Freshman guard Terryn Milton and junior guard Aysia Evans each tallied 12 points. Milton was a perfect 3-for-3 from the 3-point line, while Evans added three steals off the bench.

Texas State closed the second quarter on a 12-0 run over the final 5:49 of the frame to take a 28-17 lead into the break. Unfortunately, the Bobcats were outscored 10-3 in the third quarter to let UTA right back into the game.

Only three players found the scorebook for the Lady Mavs in the fourth quarter: Milton, Evans and Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year candidate, senior guard Cierra Johnson.

Milton’s 3-pointer at the 8:16 mark in the fourth marked the first bucket of the frame for UTA. The shot galvanized the visitors as the full-court, man-to-man press was able to get set.

With the score knotted at 36-36, Johnson drove baseline and picked up a three-point play to give the Lady Mavs a 39-36 edge with 3:26 to go. After a battle of free throws saw the Cats tie the game up for the fourth time at 40-40, Evans drilled a dagger 3-pointer from the corner to put UTA up for good.

Texas State has one final chance after the defense came up with a huge stop, forcing UTA into a shot clock violation. With 11 ticks on the clock, the Bobcats struggled to get the ball inbounds on the sideline. A tough entry pass led to a travel and UTA was able to salt the game away at the free throw line.

Up next, Texas State will play the winner of No. 7 South Alabama and No. 10 Louisiana in the second round of the Sun Belt tournament. Tip is scheduled for 2 p.m. from the Lakefront Arena.

Bobcats fall in regular season finale vs. UTA, 81-73

ARLINGTON, Texas – In what was an intense and important game to cap off the regular season, the Texas State men’s basketball team (23-8, 12-6 Sun Belt) fell short vs. UT Arlington (16-15, 12-6 Sun Belt), 81-73 at the College Park Center on UTA’s senior day.

With the loss, the Bobcats will fall out of contention for either of the top two seeds in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

“I want to give credit to UTA,” head coach Danny Kaspar said. “They are a good basketball team especially on the defensive end, but we have to get back to the drawing board and play defense the way we did to win 23 games. I was very disappointed that we gave up 81 points on the road on 52 percent shooting.”

For the eight time this season the Bobcats finished the game with four players scoring in double figures.

Junior guard Nijal Pearson and freshman guard Mason Harrell led the team with 13 points apiece, while junior guard Jaylen Shead and junior forward Quentin Scott tallied 12 points, a new career-high for Scott. Shead also led the team with seven rebound and seven assists.

TXST shot 43.1 percent (22-of-51) from the field and 78.1 percent (25-of-32) from the free throw line. However, the Bobcats continued their struggles from 3-point territory, finishing 4-of-22 in the setback.

UTA’s junior guard Brian Warren torched the Bobcat defense for 24 points on 50 percent shooting from the floor (8-of-16), including a 4-of-7 night from deep.

Warren has exploded for 54 points vs. the Bobcats this season after logging a season-best 30 points vs. Texas State on Feb. 2. In this game, the Indianapolis, Ind. native also recorded four assists and a game-high three steals.

Junior guard Edric Dennis scored 15 points and led the Mavericks with five dimes. The Mavericks stretch of efficient shooting continued for the Mavericks as they shot over 50 percent (26-of-50) for the third consecutive game and will enter the tournament on a four-game winning streak.

The Bobcats faced adversity early on as they picked up four fouls before the first media timeout, including two awarded to Pearson less than 30 seconds from tip-off. UTA took advantage of the TXST’s frustration and jumped out to an eight-point lead after Warren drained a triple from the top of the key.

Pearson would respond, however, with a personal 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 17-15 at the 11:36 mark. Senior forward Alex Peacock’s second chance basket brought UTA’s lead down to one with 8:22 on the clock, but the Mavs answered with a 15-4 run to hold a 38-26 lead, the largest of the half, with 2:55 remaining in the stanza.

The Bobcats would catch fire and ended the frame on an 11-5 run to go into the half down, 43-37 despite recording 13 fouls in the period.

“I do believe that when you call two quick fouls on Nijal [Pearson], it changes the players way of thinking in terms of aggressiveness,” Kaspar stated. “I am not very happy for the way the game was called but it is what it is.”

UTA opened the second half with a 12-2 run highlighted by eight unanswered points behind two triples from junior guard TiAndre Jackson-Young.

The Bobcats would string together six straight points to build some momentum, however, Warren splashed again from behind-the-arc and proceeded to do so two more times in the half.

The Mavericks led by as many as 16 points in the second half, and although the Bobcats made it interesting with a late 13-4 run with seconds remaining to cut the lead down to five, UTA sealed the game at the free throw line to complete the regular season sweep with an 81-73 victory.

“It’s a very somber mood right now,” Kaspar concluded. “We thought we could come up here and win, but we got beat by a good team on their home court. We did not play the type of game we needed to play in order to beat this team, UTA, on their home court.”

The Bobcats will head to New Orleans, La to compete in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at the Lakefront Arena next week. More details to follow right here at Txstatebobcats.com.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE 

• Nijal Pearson made his 100th career start for the Bobcats to become the program’s all-time leader. He also moved to No. 2 on the career made 3-point field goals (174), passing Brady Richeson (172; 1999-2003)

• Jaylen Shead now has 15 games this season with five or more assists and eight games with seven or more assists.

• Texas State had three players with three fouls after the first half (Nijal Pearson, Mason Harrell, and Shelby Adams).

• This game marks the first time the Bobcats top two leading scorers registerd back-to-back games without a field goal (Pearson 0-of-8 at South Alabama March 2, senior guard Tre’Larenz Nottingham 0-of-7 at UTA March 9).

• The Bobcats have lost the last nine meetings at UTA.

• A combined 49 fouls were called in the game.