ATLANTA, Ga. – The Texas State men's basketball team had a chance to take Georgia State to overtime at the GSU Sports Arena for the second straight year but fell short 59-56 Thursday night. Ojai Black had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer but his NBA-range three-point attempt was off the mark.
 
The Bobcats fell to 9-10 on the season and 3-7 in the Sun Belt Conference while the Panthers saw their record improve to 13-7 overall and 6-5 in league play.
 
All of Texas State's points came from the starters led by 15 from Cameron Naylor. Ethan Montalvo netted 14 points with four treys and Kavin Gilder-Tilbury tallied 13. Adding nine points was Black and Emani Gant rounded out the scoring with five points.
 
Gant grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and Naylor retrieved eight. Both Black and Gilder-Tilbury dished out a game-high five assists each.
 
Markus Crider led GSU with 24 points, 13 in the second half, on 10-of-14 shooting and Jeremy Hollowell contributed 11 points.
 
Following a layup by Gant and put back from Gilder-Tilbury to give the Bobcats a 4-2 advantage a little over two minutes into the game, the Panthers responded by scoring six of the next eight points. Black nailed a three-pointer to put Texas State back in front, and Gant got another layup to fall to increase the lead to 11-8.
 
GSU responded with a 12-3 run to take their largest lead of the half. Back-to-back treys courtesy of Montalvo and Naylor knotted the score 20-20 with 8:41 until halftime.
 
After falling behind by five nearly three minutes later, Texas State went on an 8-2 scoring burst capped off by two free throws from Gilder-Tilbury. A loose ball that was heading out of bounds was corralled by Gilder-Tilbury. With his momentum taking him out of bounds, he threw the ball back into play. Unfortunately, the ball was caught by Crider, who hit jumper to end the half and give the Panthers a 34-33 advantage.
 
The Bobcats began the second half on a 12-4 run with the final six coming treys from Montalvo to take a 45-38 lead at the 14:10 mark. Over the next 7:48, Texas State was held scoreless while the Panthers scored 13 straight to go back in front. Naylor ended the scoring drought with a short jumper from the right wing.
 
Twice the Bobcats pulled to within one over the final two minutes. The last time was after Gilder-Tilbury sank two free throw with 1:27 to play to make it 57-56 in favor of the home team.
 
Crider was fouled with just over 12 second remaining to go to the charity stripe to attempt a 1-and-1. He had made only two of his first six free throws before the late game trip but sank both of his shots to extended GSU's advantage to three. Black got off a long three just before the buzzer sounded but the ball glanced off the front of the rim that prevented sending the game to overtime.
 
Texas State concludes their four-game road trip Saturday at 6 p.m. CT at Georgia Southern.