HONOLULU – The Texas State men's basketball team came out and completed its mission Monday evening with a dominating 86-58 victory over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville in the team's finale of the Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic. With the win, the Bobcats claim at least a share of the tournament title and can claim it outright with a Florida Atlantic victory over Hawaii tonight or if the Owls score at least 53 points.
 
"This is one of the best performances any team has given me over a 25-plus year head coaching career," said head coach Danny Kaspar. "We had zero turnovers in the first half and I have never had a team do that. I am very proud of this team bouncing back from a disappointing loss to Hawaii. I know this team can do such things and I hope for repeat performances in the future."
 
With the win, the Bobcats improved to 2-1 on the season while the Cougars drop to 2-1.
 
Two jumpers from Kavin Gilder-Tilbury helped Texas State jumped out to an early 9-2 lead. Maljhum McCrea capped off the run with a turnaround jumper in the paint.
 
Five points from the Cougars cut the Bobcats' advantage to two with 15:26 remaining in the first half. That was as close as SIUE would get as Texas State responded with a 13-3 run that saw Nijal Pearson score nine points.
 
The Bobcats took their largest lead of the contest, 82-47, following a layup from Nedeljko Prijovic with 4:24 left in the game.
 
Over the final four minutes, Kaspar emptied his bench to give guys meaningful playing experience. During that time, Deris Duncan converted a layup for his first career points in a Texas State uniform.
 
Gilder-Tilbury recorded his first career double-double with 23 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. The Hawaii born senior made 9-of-11 shots from the field, was 2-for-3 on three-point attempts, dished out two assists, had two steals and blocked a shot.
 
Pearson contributed 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting, with four rebounds, two assists and two steals. He and Gilder-Tilbury are the first Bobcat duo to score 20 or more points in a game Reid Koenen and Joel Wright did so against South Alabama on Feb. 20, 2014.
 
Matching his career-high for the second straight game was Bobby Conley with 10 points. The senior also set a new career best with five assists and his two rejections led all players.
 
Coming off the bench, Tyler Blount netted eight points on 3-of-3 shooting with two three-pointers. Fellow junior Immanuel King recorded his second straight game with eight points as well. Marlin Davis led all players with seven assists in only 18 minutes of action.
 
Texas State shot 57.4 percent (35-61) from the field, were 8-for-16 from beyond the arc but continued to struggle at the free throw line, going 8-for-15. The Bobcats outrebounded the Cougars 38-24 and posted a 50-20 advantage in points in the paint. Also, the 86 points are the most scored against a Division I opponent since Kaspar became the head coach.
 
Next up for Texas State is a meeting with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Monday, Nov. 21. The game will tip at 7 p.m. inside Strahan Coliseum for the team's home opener.
 
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.