SAN MARCOS, Texas – Down by five with 11 minutes to play in the second half, the Texas State men's basketball team went on a 12-0 run that put the team in front for good in a 64-57 victory over Prairie View A&M Saturday evening in Strahan Coliseum.
 
With the win, the Bobcats are now 5-4 on the season and have won three straight at home while the Panthers fall to 2-8.



After a slow start offensively by both teams, Texas State appeared to be pulling away after going on a 9-2. Capping off the scoring stretch was Kavin Gilder-Tilbury with an alley-oop slam on the fastbreak courtesy of Nijal Pearson with 5:10 left in the half.
 
PVAMU stepped up defensively and held the Bobcats to just two more points the rest of the half. A three-pointer from Troy Thompson with 18 seconds remaining gave the Panthers a 29-28 lead at the break.
 
The teams traded the lead multiple times at the beginning of the second half until PVAMU scored eight straight in less than a minute to take a 49-44 lead with 11:19 remaining. A triple by Gilder-Tilbury not only kicked started a 12-0 run for Texas State but also the defense that held the Panthers to just eight points the rest of the game.


 
Both Gilder-Tilbury and Pearson scored a team-high 14 points. Pearson recorded half of his points at the free throw line and added a game-high nine rebounds. Gilder-Tilbury finished with seven boards, a season-high three steals and matched his career-high of three blocks.
 
Nedeljko Prijovic provided a spark off the bench with 10 points, six rebounds, two blocks and a steal. The freshman did most of his damage in the second half as he totaled eight points on 3-of-4 shooting, including the go-ahead put back layup, and four boards in seven minutes on the floor.
 
Maljhum McCrea contributed eight points thanks to 4-for-6 performance at the charity stripe and Ojai Black netted eight points and dished out a team-high four assists.
 
The Panthers were led by Daquan Cook's 20 points. Tevin Bellinger finished with nine point and rebounds while Ja'Donta Blakley handed out six assists with no turnovers and was credited with five steals.
 
As a team, Texas State shot 41.3 percent (19-of-46) from the field and made 36.8 percent (7-for-19) on three-point attempts. The Bobcats had their best day of the season at the free throw line going 19-for-25 (76.0%). Defensively, the team matched their season best of seven blocks.
 
Next for Texas State is a trip to Tulsa on Saturday, Dec. 17. The game is slated to start at 7 p.m. at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
 
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.