SAN MARCOS, Texas – Senior Kavin Gilder-Tilbury surpassed the 1,000 career point mark Saturday afternoon in the Texas State men's basketball team's 67-58 victory over Appalachian State in Strahan Coliseum. He is the 21st Bobcat ever to reach the point mark and is the third to accomplish the feat in the Danny Kaspar era.
 
With the win, Texas State improves to 8-5 overall and 1-0 in Sun Belt Conference play while the Mountaineers are now 5-7 on the season and 0-1 in the conference.


 
Gilder-Tilbury tallied his 1,000th career point with a put back off a missed shot at the 18:49 mark to give the Bobcats an early 2-1 lead.
 
After APP went ahead 5-4, Texas State responded with a 13 straight points. All came courtesy of Bobby Conley (7) and Nijal Pearson (6).
 
The Mountaineers cut their deficit to six with 6:35 left in the period on a jumper from Isaac Johnson. That would be the last points of the half for the visitors as the Bobcats closed out the first 20 minutes on 10-0 run that was capped off by consecutive three-pointers by Gilder-Tilbury.


 
Maljhum McCrea opened the second half with a short kiss off the glass to give Texas State their largest lead of the game of 18. Ronshad Shabazz scored 11 consecutive for APP that included three straight three-pointers to cut the lead to six with just under 13 minutes left on the clock.
 
The Mountaineers eventually pulled to within 50-48 following two free throws at the 8:11 mark. Neither team was able to connect for a bucket until nearly two minutes later when Immanuel King drove from the free throw for a layup. McCrea followed with a layup of his own and Nedeljko Prijovic hit a step back trey to increase the Texas State advantage to nine with four minutes to play.
 
APP was unable to get any closer than nine the rest of the game as the Bobcats went 5-for-6 from the free throw line over the final minute.
 
Gilder-Tilbury led all players with 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting with a 3-for-4 performance from beyond the arc. He also grabbed a team-high five rebounds and blocked a career best four shots.
 
Nijal Pearson contributed 11 points, connecting on 4-of-7 shots and made his lone three-point attempt of the contest. Also finishing in double-digit points with 10 and handing out a game-high five assists was Ojai Black.
 
Bobby Conley netted nine points while going 4-for-8 from the field. He grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists as well.
 
Off the bench, Prijovic finished with seven points, two rebounds and two blocks. King had four points and a career-high three steals.
 
Texas State shot 49.0 percent (25-51) for the game and was 6-for-13 on three-point attempts. While winning the turnover battle 16-10, the Bobcats were outrebounded 40-31 with a 14-7 disadvantage on the offensive glass.
 
Next for Texas State is a 7 p.m. contest on Monday against SBC newcomer Coastal Carolina in 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.