STATESBORO, Ga. – Trailing by as many as 17 in the first half, the Texas State men's basketball team nearly came back to force overtime but fell short in a 70-67 loss at Georgia Southern Saturday evening as Ojai Black's desperation heavy went just left of the rim.
 
The Bobcats drop to 15-10 on the season and 8-5 in the Sun Belt Conference while the Eagles are now 17-10 overall and 10-4 in conference play.
 
"We put ourselves in too deep of a hole at the beginning of the game and didn't come out with the intensity and fire that we needed to on the road against a very good basketball team," said head coach Danny Kaspar. "I was proud of the second half effort our guys gave. It is a disappointing loss to swallow."
 
GS scored the first seven points of the game with Texas State not recording its first points until Kavin Gilder-Tilbury converted a layup at the 16:34 mark. Gilder-Tilbury hit a short jumper off the glass to beat the shot clock to cut the deficit to 8-4, the closest the Bobcats would get the rest of the half.
 
After a three-point by Tyler Blount on the fastbreak with 4:40 left in the period, the Eagles went on a 9-2 run to take its largest lead of the half at 38-21. The lone points for Texas State came on a layup from Immanuel King, who had to battle through a triple team to get the bucket.
 
Marlin Davis got a jumper to fall with 1:32 showing on the clock and Nijal Pearson knocked down a trey from the left corner a minute later for the final points of the period. The duo's five points cut the halftime deficit to 38-26, the largest the Bobcats have faced this season.
 
The second half began with Gilder-Tilbury hitting a three-pointer followed by a trey from the right corner courtesy of Bobby Conley. Layups from Conley and King forced the Eagles to use a timeout as the Bobcats pulled to within 43-36 with 16:35 left in the game.
 
After the teams traded baskets, Black got a layup to fall and Pearson knocked down two free throws to bring the Bobcats to within five.
 
The Eagles extended their lead to eight until Blount knocked down his second triple of the game with 6:30 remaining. Texas State would not make a field goal again for the next four minutes but converted 5-of-6 at the charity stripe to stay within single-digits.
 
Black knocked down his lone trey of the game to cut the deficit to 66-60. The Eagles would miss five of their next six free throw attempts while Gilder-Tilbury hit a NBA range three-pointer for the third consecutive contest to cut the deficit to three.
 
Following a 1-for-2 trip at the line for GS, Conley knocked down a triple from the left wing to make it a one-point game. Tookie Brown hit both of his free throws to extend the Eagles' advantage to three with five seconds remaining. Black received the in-bound pass and drove within 30 feet of the basket before getting off a last second heave that glanced off the glass just to the left of the rim.
 
Gilder-Tilbury scored a game-high 22 points as he made 8-of-12 shots, was 4-for-8 from beyond the arc and made both free throws. The senior also handed out three assists and recorded a steal in 37 minutes of action.
 
Pearson was the only other Bobcat in double-figures with 10 thanks to going 5-for-6 at the charity stripe. Conley netted eight with a 3-for-5 shooting day and was 2-of-3 on three-point attempts.
 
Finishing with a game-high seven rebounds was King while Black dished out seven assists without turning the ball over. Coming off the bench, Davis netted seven points and Blount scored six points behind two treys.
 
The Bobcats were 22-for-47 (46.8%) from the field and connected on 10-of-25 (40.0%) three-pointers. They also went 13-for-18 (72.2%) at the free throw line. GS made 24-of-47 (51.1%) field goal attempts but were just 10-for-24 (41.7%) in the second half.
 
Next up for Texas State is a trip to Georgia State on Monday for a 6 p.m. CT game.
 
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.