Men's Basketball | 1/15/2017 5:45:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State men's basketball team closes out its road swing in the state of Alabama Monday night at 7 p.m. in the Trojan Arena that will be streamed on ESPN3.
 
Entering the game, the Bobcats are 9-7 on the season with a 2-2 record in the Sun Belt Conference while the Trojans are 10-8 and 2-2 in conference action.
 
Last Time Out
Texas State fell in overtime at South Alabama Saturday afternoon after the Jaguars hit 10 three-pointers and shot a season-high 80 percent at the free throw line. NIjal Pearson led the Bobcats with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting and was a perfect 3-for-3 at the free throw line. The freshman added seven rebounds and matched his career-high of four steals.
 
Bobby Conley also made 5-of-10 shots from the field and netted 13 points with a team best two made three-pointers.
 
Kavin Gilder-Tilbury had an off night from the field but was able to score 10 points. He contributed five rebounds, three assists and three steals. The senior did move up to 17th place on the program's career scoring list with 1,068 points and surpassed Lynwood Wade.
 
The Bobcats held USA to 18 points in the first half, the fewest they have allowed this season. It was also the 20th time under head coach Danny Kaspar that Texas State has given up 20 points or less in a half and ninth against a SBC opponent.
 
Scouting Troy
Troy is coming off a 93-71 victory on Saturday night against conference preseason favorite UTA. The Trojans are 5-1 at home this season with non-conference victories over Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Eastern Illinois and Toccoa Falls. Their lone loss was on Dec. 1 to South Florida.
 
Four players are averaging 10 or more points per game led by Jordon Varnado's 15.2. He is shooting a team-high 53.5 percent from the field, has made 42.5 percent of his three-point attempts and converted 70.5 percent of his free throw attempts. The sophomore also paces the team with 6.8 rebounds per game and 23 blocks.
 
Wesley Person is putting up 14.4 ppg and is coming off a career-high 39-point contest with 10 made three-pointers on Saturday. He has converted a team-high 47 treys with a 38.8 percentage from long range.
 
Contributing 11.4 ppg while coming off the bench in 17 of the team's 18 games is Jeremy Hollimon. He enters having made 51.1 percent from the field, 77.6 percent at the charity stripe and a team-high 47.2 percent from beyond the arc.
 
Dishing out a team-high 3.3 assists per game and pacing the team with 27 steals is Kevin Baker. DeVon Walker, a graduate transfer from Florida, is second on the team with 6.7 rpg, 18 steals and 17 blocks while netting 7.3 ppg.
 
All-Time Series
The Bobcats hold a slim 4-3 lead in the all-time series. Three of the last four meetings have gone in favor of Texas State. Last season the teams split the season series with the home team coming away victorious each time.
 
In last season's game on the road, the Trojans won 66-57. Gilder-Tilbury scored 12 points with two three-pointers and Ojai Black handed out five assists without turning the ball over in the contest. The Bobcats took down Troy 78-57 at home on Mar. 3, 2016 that was Kaspar's 500th career victory.
 
Live stats, audio and video will be available for the game with Brant Freeman calling the game on either 1300 The Zone (1300 AM) or 103.1 FM out of Austin and on KTSW 89.9 FM out of San Marcos. Announcers for the ESPN3 broadcast are Ali Forbes and Barry McKnight.
 
The 2017 Sun Belt Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are scheduled for a week of March Madness in the Big Easy.  New Orleans will once again be home to the two championships that will take place at Lakefront Arena from March 7-12 and ticket books can now be purchased from your school's ticket office.  For more information, visit the Sun Belt Conference's championship central websites - Men's Championship – Women's Championship – and be sure to follow the #FunBelt on social media - @SunBelt.
 
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.