NEW ORLEANS – With 2.5 second remaining and the season on the line, Bobby Conley hit the biggest three-pointer of his Texas State career to give the men's basketball team a come from behind 63-61 victory over Georgia State in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Thursday night in Lakefront Arena. The Bobcats advance to the quarterfinals for the second straight season.
 
Texas State improved to 15-15 on the season while the Panthers are now 16-14.
 
Kavin Gilder-Tilbury scored a game-high 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting and was 4-for-8 on three-pointers. He added three assists and a steal as well.
 
Emani Gant recorded his eighth double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds. He became the first Bobcat since Joel Wright in January 2014 to post two straight games with a double-double.
 
Coming off the bench, Maljhum McCrea had his best game since late January with 10 points and five rebounds. Anthony Roberson contributed three points, his lone basket being a trey from the corner, and three boards.
 
Both Ojai Black and Cameron Naylor netted seven points. Naylor dished out a career-high five assists and Black handed out four. They duo both recorded multiple steals with three coming from Naylor and two by Black.
 
The man of the night (Conley), finished with six points on two three-pointers and two assists in 20 minutes.
 
For the game, the Bobcats made 23-of-45 (51.1%) from the field with a 15-for-23 (65.2%) performance in the second half. They allowed GSU to make 51.9 percent of its shots in the first half but stepped up defensively to hold them to only 39.1 percent over the final 20 minutes.
 
Jumpers from Black and Gant gave Texas State an early 4-2 advantage. The Panthers responded with an 11-0 run that was ended on a long jumper by Gilder-Tilbury with 16:15 on the clock. Naylor with picked off a pass at took it to the house with a 360 slam to make the deficit 11-8.
 
Nine straight points extended GSU's advantage. Two layups in the final minute gave the Panthers a 34-21 lead at halftime.
 
A dunk from Gilder-Tilbury began a 7-1 run for the Bobcats that was capped off by a three-pointer courtesy of Conley. The team kept making shots and was able to cut the deficit to 46-45 with 8:36 on the clock after two free throws by Gilder-Tilbury.
 
Nearly four minutes later, Gant made back-to-back layups to put Texas State in front 51-50. The Panthers answered back on the very next possession with a three-pointer from Isaiah Williams and two free throws by Jeremy Hollowell increased their lead to 55-51 with under four minutes to go.
 
Gilder-Tilbury hit a triple to knot the score 57-57 at the 1:22 mark. With the shot clock winding down GSU's Williams got a layup to against go up by two. The next trip down the court, Gilder-Tilbury sunk his fourth three-pointer of the contest to put the Bobcats in the lead 60-59 with 32 seconds to go.
 
With the shot clock off, the Panthers could have waited to take a last second shot but were able to get down the lane for a layup to take the lead back and 11.2 showing on the clock. After a timeout by Texas State, GSU did not put any pressure on Black bringing the ball up. He then found Conley on the left wing for the game-winning three-pointer with 2.5 remaining. The Panthers got the ball to midcourt but their last second heave was off the mark.
 
Next up for the Bobcats is No. 3 seed UT Arlington in the quarterfinals at 7:30 p.m. in Lakefront Arena