Men’s Basketball Hangs On To Defeat

Next up for the Bobcats is a SBC Tournament finals rematch from last year against Troy on Saturday.

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Despite a late comeback attempt from South Alabama, the Texas State men’s basketball team hung on for a 72-69 victory Thursday night in Strahan Coliseum. The victory was the sixth straight for the Bobcats at home in Sun Belt Conference play.  

TXST improves to 9-7 on the season and 2-1 in conference action while the Jaguars drop to 8-7 overall and 2-1 in the SBC.

Alex Peacock got the scoring started with a three-pointer, the first of a career-high four on the night, 93 seconds into the game.

USA took its lone lead of the game at 7-5 at the 14:28 mark on two free throws from Josh Ajayi. The Jaguars lead last only 27 seconds when Peacock knocked down his second trey of the contest.

After a layup from Ajayi cut the Bobcats’ lead to 13-11, Eric Terry hit a hook shot that kicked started an 11-0 run over a 2:41 span. Nedeljko Prijovic capped off the scoring stretch with back-to-back tip-in baskets.

TXST stretched its advantage to 30-15 following a steal and layup from Shelby Adams. USA responded by scoring 15 of the next 19 points to cut its deficit to 34-30 with just under three minutes to play.

Nijal Pearson took over offensively as he scored the final seven points of the half that saw him knock down a long three-pointer from the top of the arc with under 12 seconds remaining. The points were his first of the game after sitting a majority of the stanza following his second foul of the game.

Tyler Blount’s lone three-pointer of the night gave the Bobcats their largest advantage of the game at 51-35 with 16:20 left on the clock.

After USA was able to pull to within single-digits, Peacock converted two free throw attempts and Adams made consecutive baskets to increase the lad to 13 with under nine minutes to go. The Jaguars answered back with a 17-6 scoring stretch that spanned 5:54.

Pearson attempted a trey from the left wing with 1:46 to go but was fouled. He made all three of his charity stripe attempts to make it a two possession game.

The Jaguars answered with an alley-oop dunk on the following possession. Rodrick Sikes added two free throws to cut the TXST advantage to 70-69 with 51 seconds to play.

On the very next possession, Peacock drove the lane and jumped stopped to cause two USA players to collide and fall down. This allowed the Bloomington, Illinois native to make an easy layup with 26 seconds to go and the Bobcats in front by three.

It would be the final bucket of the game as Sikes missed two three-point tries and Ajayi missed one coming off an in-bound play.

Peacock led TXST with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting. He also grabbed six rebounds and handed out four assists.

Immanuel King netted a career-high 16 points with an 8-for-12 performance from the field. The senior grabbed five boards as well.

Pearson retrieved a game-high seven rebounds while contributing 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting.

Coming off the bench, Adams scored eight points in 14 minutes of action. Prijovic finished the night with five points and five rebounds, four of which came on the offensive glass.

The Bobcats shot 45.2 percent from the field and were 9-for-12 at the free throw line. They held USA to 42.6 percent shooting and 34.6 percent on three-point attempts. TXST also outrebounded the visitors 39-29 with a 15-8 advantage of offensive boards.

Next up for the Bobcats is a SBC Tournament finals rematch from last year against Troy on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. with the game being broadcast 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=&id=5174