Men's Basketball | 1/27/2017 6:30:00 PM
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The second go around in Sun Belt Conference play begins on Saturday for the Texas State men's basketball team at Coastal Carolina at 3:30 p.m. CT in the HTC Center.
Heading into the game, the Bobcats are 11-8 on the season and 4-3 in conference play while the Chanticleers sport a 9-11 overall record and are also 4-3 in the SBC.
Live stats, audio and video will be available for the game with Bill Culhane 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.
Last Time Out
Texas State kept within striking distance of ULM on Monday before using a 13-3 run in the second half to pull away.
Nijal Pearson recorded his second straight game of 18 points as he made 6-of-14 shots with 2 made three-pointers and connected on 4-of-5 free throw attempts. He also grabbed eight rebounds.
Kavin Gilder-Tilbury posted his second double-double of the season and his career with a 15-point, 11-rebound performance. His offensive performance moved him up two spots to 13 on the program's career scoring list with 1,120 points.
Also cracking double-digits was
Bobby Conley with 14 points. The senior was 6-for-11 from the field with two made triples.
Ojai Black dished out a game-high six assists while turning the ball over twice. It was his fifth game this season and second in-a-row in which he handed out a least five assists while committing two or fewer turnovers.
Scouting Coastal Carolina
Coastal Carolina is coming off a 0-2 weekend on the road against Georgia Southern and Georgia State. The Chanticleers are 7-4 at home and 3-0 against SBC opponents with victories over Appalachian State, Arkansas State and Little Rock.
Elijah Wilson leads the team in scoring (14.1) and made three-pointers (59). He has made 36.2 percent of his shots, 34.7 percent from beyond the arc and 73.8 percent at the free throw line. Jaylen Shaw is the only other player averaging double-digits in scoring at 13.8 points per game. The point guard paces the squad in three-point percentage (37.0), free throw percentage (89.7), assists (4.0) and steals (24).
Demario Beck paces CCU with 7.7 rebounds per game and Colton Ray-St Cyr is second (5.7) in boards. Both come in averaging 9.1 ppg.
The Chanticleers gained Shivaughn Wiggins, who had to sit out the first half of the season. The senior comes in averaging 9.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg and 2.0 apg in 24.0 minutes per game off the bench in the last five contests. He has made 37.8 percent of his shots, 68.0 percent at the charity stripe but is just 1-for-8 (18.2%) from long distance.
All-Time Series
The all-time series is tied 1-1 follows CCU's 60-53 victory on Jan. 2 in Strahan Coliseum. That game saw Gilder-Tilbury be the only Bobcat to reach double-digit in scoring with 18. Texas State's victory came on Nov. 30, 1996 by the score of 74-68 in Muncie, Indiana as part of the Cardinal Varsity Club Classic.
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.
