NEW ORLEANS – The Texas State men's basketball team fell short of advancing in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Friday night in Lakefront Arena, falling to UT Arlington 72-63 in the quarterfinals.
 
The Bobcats conclude the season with a 15-16 record while the Mavericks are now 23-9 on the year.
 
Seniors Emani Gant and Cameron Naylor led Texas State with 13 points apiece. Naylor also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. Kavin Gilder-Tilbury netted 12 points with two three-pointers and grabbed five boards.
 
Ojai Black finished with six points, four assists and two steals. Bobby Conley, filling in for an injured Ethan Montalvo, scored seven points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists.
 
Off the bench, K.J. Malveau contributed six points while going 4-for-4 at the free throw line. Both Maljhum McCrea and Anthony Roberson finished with three points and rebounds. McCrea also blocked two shots.
 
Texas State made 20-of-47 (42.6%) with a 14-for-24 (58.3%) performance in the first half. The Bobcats held UTA to a 24-for-63 (38.1%) from the field with nine treys. The Mavericks held a 41-34 advantage on the boards and 14-3 on the offensive glass, accounting for 14 second points to none for the Cats.
 
On the very first possession of the game, Gilder-Tilbury hit a three-pointer and the Bobcats extended their lead to 8-3 after a free throw from Gant. Five of the next seven points went to UTA to make it a two-point contest with a little over three minutes gone.
 
A 9-2 run from Texas State extended the advantage to nine. Five points during the scoring stretch came from Naylor and the other four from Black. The Bobcats eventually went up 26-16 a little over halfway thru the period after Gilder-Tilbury drove the baseline for a layup.
 
Twice the Mavericks were able to cut their deficit to two the rest of the half, the last time being with 4:09 left in the clock after Drew Charles' fourth triple. Texas State scored the next six, capped off when Malveau sank two free throws. However, UTA scored the final three points to make the Cats' lead 38-33 at intermission.
 
Gilder-Tilbury began the final 20 minutes with a three-pointer but the Mavericks answered with six straight points to force a timeout from the Bobcats at the 17:50 mark. Texas State would hold on to the lead until the 8:01 mark when Erick Neal sang two free throws to give the Mavericks their first lead of the game.
 
A layup from Gant on the next trip down the court put the Bobcats back in front. UTA responded with six straight points to take a 60-55 advantage. A jumper by Naylor followed by a layup courtesy of Gant made it a two-point contest. At the 3:15 mark, Naylor sank two charity stripe attempts to knot the score 60-60.
 
The Mavericks closed the game on a 12-3 run with the final points coming on a dunk courtesy of Naylor with just under 11 seconds to play.