Men’s Basketball Comeback And Survive Last Second Shot To Down Eagles

Next up for the Bobcats is a matchup with Georgia State on Saturday at 1:15 p.m. CT on ESPN3.

STATESBORO, Ga. – For the second time this season the Texas State men’s basketball team nearly saw an opponent nearly win at the buzzer. This time the Bobcats hung on to win 62-61 over Georgia Southern in the Hanner Fieldhouse Thursday night after trailing by eight when Tookie Brown’s three-pointer hit too hard off the rim as the buzzer sounded.

With the win, TXST improved to 14-8 on the season, 7-2 in the Sun Belt Conference and won its fourth consecutive road conference game for the first time since the Feb. 2-23, 2002. The Eagles drop to 14-7 overall and 5-3 in conference play.

“This was a great win for us on the road against a very good team. I am very proud of the guys how they fought back after the humbling feat on Saturday,” said head coach Danny Kaspar. “Not many people come in here and beat Georgia Southern on their home floor. This has to got to be a win for the book as far as Texas State men’s basketball is concerned.”

A hot offensive start saw TXST knockdown eight of its first 10 shots including a 4-for-5 performance on three-pointers to take a 20-6 lead and force a GS timeout. Capping off the start was a three-pointer from the right corner by Nijal Pearson.

Over the next 10:08, the Bobcats would be outscored 22-8 at the final media timeout of the first half. Pearson ended a scoring drought that last nearly 4:30 minutes with a layup between two defenders. Tyler Blount knocked down his second three-pointer of the half on the next possession to increase the lead to 33-28 with 2:12 to play.

Blount scored the final basket for TXST with 1:05 on a jumper. The Eagles got a layup with 45 seconds to play for the last bucket of the half as the Bobcats took a 35-32 advantage into intermission.

A trey courtesy of Pearson started off the scoring in the second stanza to made it a six-point TXST lead. The Eagles would go score 17 of the next 20 points to take a 49-41 lead with 10:29 showing on the clock. Only points for the Bobcats were a layup by Eric Terry and free throw from Deris Duncan.

With 9:43 left to play, Alex Peacock hit a three-pointer on the left wing to start an 8-2 run for the Bobcats. The other five points came at the charity stripe with three courtesy of Terry and two from Pearson.

A three-pointer from Pearson cut the deficit to 53-52 but the Eagles responded with back-to-back buckets at the rim to increase their advantage to five with five minutes remaining.

The Bobcats clamped down defensively and only allowed one more field goal while GS went 2-for-4 at the free throw line. During that time, Pearson and Nottingham combined to score TXST’s final 10 points. Nottingham netted six of the 10 points with four coming at the charity stripe including the game-winner with 3.7 remaining on the clock.

Pearson scored a team-high 22 points, one shy of his career-high, on 7-of-17 shooting with four made treys and was 4-of-6 on free throws. The sophomore also grabbed a team best eight rebounds while handing out three assists.

Nottingham netted 12 points with two made triples and was 4-for-5 at the charity stripe. He recorded a career-high five steals, dished out four assists and grabbed four boards.

Both Blount and King contributed eight points apiece. Blount made two three-pointers and King was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field.

The Bobcats shot 40.8 percent on the night with 10 made treys that accounted for half of their made field goals. TXST also went 12-for-17 (70.6%) at the free throw line. Defensively, the Bobcats allowed GS to make 43.6 percent of its shots but were just 2-of-21 (9.5%) on long distance attempts.

On the glass, the Eagles held a 33-31 advantage, but TXST held them to only nine offensive rebounds after coming in averaging over 14 per game that ranked seventh in the nation.

Next up for the Bobcats is a matchup with Georgia State on Saturday at 1:15 p.m. CT on ESPN3.

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=mbball&id=5180