Texas State Men’s Basketball Falls to Hot Shooting UTRGV

EDINBURG, Texas – Wednesday night saw the Texas State men’s basketball team fall to UT Rio Grande Valley 72-61 in the UTRGV Fieldhouse as the Vaqueros hit 13 three-pointers, four more than they came in averaging on the season.

“It was a very disappointing loss. Give UTRGV a lot of credit for how hard they play and shot the ball tonight,” said head coach Danny Kaspar. “I was pleased with our rebounding tonight but our defense was not good enough to stop a team that was red hot.”

The Bobcats fall to 4-4 on the season while UTRGV is now 3-8.

UTRGV jumped out to a 7-1 lead nearly four minutes into the game but Texas State responded with seven straight points to its only lead of the game. Capping the scoring stretch was Bobby Conley’s first three-pointer of the game.

However, the Vaqueros went on a 19-3 run over the next 6:12. The Bobcats stepped up their play on the defensive end and netted 11 straight points to cut the deficit to four. During the scoring stretch, Tyler Blount and Conley both hit three-pointers with Blount’s being from NBA range.

Conley pulled Texas State to within 34-27 with 33 seconds remaining on the clock with his third triple of the period. Immanuel King came up with a block to send a UTRGV shot attempt out of bounds with 3.9 remaining. On the ensuing in-bounds play, Lew Stallworth was able to get just enough space to hit a long distance shot to give the Vaqueros a 10-point halftime advantage.

In the second half, were able to pull to within six on multiple occasions with the last being at the 9:06 mark when Marlin Davis hit a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 55-49. Thanks to making seven of their made 11 field goals in the second, UTRGV was able to take the victory.

Kavin Gilder-Tilbury scored a game-high 20 points as he went 8-for-16 from the field with a made trey and grabbed seven rebounds. It was his third 20-point game this season.

Conley added 13 points with 11 coming in the first half. He tied his career-high of three made three-pointers.

Freshman Nijal Pearson concluded the game with six points, seven rebounds and three assists. Coming off the bench, King netted six points and grabbed a career and game-high 10 rebounds.

Next up for the Bobcats is Prairie View A&M on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. inside Strahan Coliseum.

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=4735