LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Trailing by as much as 19 in the first half, the Texas State men's basketball team was able to cut the deficit to three with 43.6 to play, but Little Rock hung on to defeat the Bobcats 73-68 Saturday night in the Jack Stephens Center. Emani Gant led TXST 20 points and a game-high 10 rebounds and moved into a tie for 20th place on the school's career scoring list with Ryan White (2007-11) with 989.

Texas State fell to 12-14 overall and 6-11 in the Sun Belt Conference while the Trojans are now 25-3 on the season, 16-2 in conference play and claimed their first outright league title.

A three-pointer from Kavin Gilder-Tilbury with 7:58 remaining cut the Bobcats' deficit to 56-48. LR came back to increase its lead to 14 with just under five minutes to play.

Over the next 4:12, Texas State went on a 13-2 run behind five points from Cameron Naylor. Gant capped off the scoring stretch with a free throw. The Trojans made two at the charity stripe to go back up by five.

Gant followed with a put back layup to again make it a three-point game. However, LR was able to break the Bobcats press to seal the contest.

A put back from Gilder-Tilbury tied the game 2-2 almost 90 seconds into the game. Three consecutive treys from the Trojans put them ahead by nine. Back-to-back layups from Gant and Gilder-Tilbury pulled Texas State to within five with 15:01 showing on the clock.

Little Rock used a 16-4 run spanning 4:19 to take their largest lead of the game at 35-16. For the rest of the period the teams combined to score only five points, all of which came from the Bobcats on a triple courtesy of Ojai Black and a layup by Gant.

Gant recorded his sixth double-double of the season and 10 of his career. Gilder-Tilbury netted 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting and two three-pointers and dished out a team best four assists.

Tying his career-high for second time in the last three games was Black with 14 points. He was 6-for-12 from the floor and nailed 2-of-3 long distance attempts.

Ethan Montalvo contributed nine points and Naylor added seven. The lone player off the bench to score was Anthony Roberson with a made free throw.

The Bobcats made 42.6 percent of their shots with a 53.8 shooting percentage in the second half. They also made 16-of-21 at the charity stripe.

Little Rock was led by Marcus Johnson Jr.'s 21 points thanks to five three-pointers. Mareik Isom totaled 16 points and Josh Hagins recorded an 11-point, 7-assist contest. Rogers Woods grabbed a team best six rebounds and added 10 points. The Trojans made 24 shots, 11 of which came from beyond the arc.

Next up for Texas State is the final regular season road game of the season Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. against UT Arlington.