Tale of Two Halves for Texas State Men’s Basketball against Rainbow Warriors

HONOLULU – It was a tale of two halves for the Texas State men’s basketball Sunday night in the Stan Sheriff Center. The Bobcats dominated on both ends of the court in the first half but ran into trouble in the second half as Hawaii came back to win 74-68 in both teams’ second game of the Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic.

“Hawaii hit some threes and committed only four turnovers in the second half which was a huge factor for them,” said head coach Danny Kaspar. “We got a little tired and when guys get four fouls, like some of our guys did, they back off and be a little more tentative.”

Texas State is now 1-1 on the season and the Rainbow Warriors are also 1-1.

Bobby Conley opened the game with a three-pointer. The next time down the court Kavin Gilder-Tilbury nailed a triple of his own. A turnaround jumper by Maljhum McCrea and a put back off an offensive rebound from Nijal Pearson gave the Bobcats an early 10-0 advantage and forced UH to call a timeout with 18:04 showing on the clock.

The Rainbow Warriors responded with seven straight points. The run ended when Gilder-Tilbury found a cutting Immanuel King for a slam at the 12:32 mark.

UH came back to cut the Texas State advantage to 14-13. The Bobcats responded with seven straight points that were capped off by a shorter jumper off the glass from King. A layup from Conley with 37 seconds left in the half gave Texas State a 14-point advantage, its largest of the game.

Coming out of halftime, UH netted 14 of the first 20 points to pull to within 44-40. A jumper in the pain from McCrea and three-pointer courtesy of Marlin Davis increased the Bobcats’ lead to nine.

The Rainbow Warriors responded by scoring 15 of the net 21 points to tie the game with 8:50 remaining on the clock. After UH tied the contest again at 58-58, Black converted a layup and Gilder-Tilbury converted his fourth trey of the game.

A 12-0 run by the Rainbow Warriors gave them their first lead of the game. Texas State was unable to get closer than four the rest of the way after Pearson hit two charity stripe attempts late in the game.

Gilder-Tilbury led all players with 18 points as he went 6-for-15 from the field. The senior grabbed five rebounds, dished out two assists and recorded a game-high two steals.

Also reaching double-digits was Conley and Pearson. Conley finished with 10 points to tie his career-high. Pearson netted 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting and was 4-for-6 at the free throw line while contributing four rebounds and four assists with no turnovers.

Coming off the bench, King finished the night with eight points and seven rebounds, four being on the offensive end.

As a team, the Bobcats were 26-for-58 (44.8 percent) from the field with seven made three-pointers. The team struggled at the line going 9-for-18 (50.0 percent) while UH finished 21-for-26 (80.8 percent) at the charity stripe.

Texas State closes out the Rainbow Classic on Monday at 10 p.m. CT against SIU-Edwardsville.

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.

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