Men's Basketball | 2/26/2017 6:50:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Monday night will see seniors Ojai Black, Bobby Conley and Kavin Gilder-Tilbury play their final game in Strahan Coliseum that tips at 7 p.m. as the Texas State men's basketball team takes on South Alabama.
 
The Bobcats head into the contest with a 16-11 record on the season and 9-6 in the Sun Belt Conference while the Jaguars are 13-15 overall and 6-9 in conference play. Texas State sits in fifth place in the conference standings, one game back of Arkansas State and a half a game ahead of Coastal Carolina.
 
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 matched its largest comeback this season after trailing by eight late in the first half to Troy. The four-point victory kept the Bobcats hopes alive for a top four seed in the SBC Tournament and an opportunity to record the third straight winning month.
 
Gilder-Tilbury scored a team-high 17 points as he made 7-of-10 shot attempts. The Houston native knocked down 3-of-4 three-pointers, all in the second half. He is 59 points shy of becoming just the 17th Bobcat to ever tally 500 points or more in a season.
 
Both Black and Conley netted 13 points apiece on Saturday. Black finished 4-of-6 from the field and at the charity stripe. He also dished out a game-high six assists while turning the ball over once. Conley made 5-of-8 shots and sealed the game with a fastbreak layup with 1.4 seconds remaining on the clock.
 
Nijal Pearson had his lowest scoring output this season with only two points. However, he made up for it with 10 rebounds including three key offensive boards in the final 30 seconds. The freshman also recorded four assists with no turnovers and had a steal.
 
Coming off the bench, Nedlejko Prijovic played a career-high 27 minutes. During that time, he scored nine points, including just his fourth made three-pointer of the season, and grabbed seven rebounds. Tyler Blount added five points as well.
 
Overall, Texas State is allowing 62.9 points per game that ranks 16th in the nation. The next closest team in the SBC is Arkansas State at 68.3 ppg, the 80th lowest in the country. Among mid-major programs, the Bobcats scoring defense is the eighth best.
 
Scouting South Alabama
South Alabama enters Monday on a two-game losing streak and have dropped three of its last four games. On Saturday, the Jaguars fell by 12 at UTA. They are 4-9 this season in road games and 2-6 against conference foes. USA's two victories have been over Troy and ULM earlier this month.
 
Ken Williams leads the Jaguars in scoring (13.3), assists (3.3), made three-pointers (41) and free throw percentage (82.9). He has made 35.5 percent of his total shots and 25.6 percent from beyond the arc.
 
Also with a double-digit scoring average is Josh Ajayi at 11.0 per contest. The freshman has made 48.4 percent from the field and is 20-for-51 (39.2%) on three-point attempts. He leads the team with 5.9 rebounds per game.
 
Nick Stover is shooting a team best 38.4 percent from long distance and is averaging 9.7 points per game. He has made 33 treys and is shooting 46.6 percent on his field goal attempts. With a team-high 55.2 field goal percentage is Georgi Boyanov. The big man is grabbing 4.9 rpg as well.
 
The only player to start every game this season for the Jaguars is Don MuepoKelly. He has blocked a team-high 33 shots and is second in rebounding (5.2) and steals (36). The senior is averaging 8.9 ppg with a 51.4 field goal percentage but has made only 58.7 percent at the charity stripe.
 
Also a threat to have a big game is Shaq Calhoun (8.2 ppg) after scoring 26 in the first meeting between the teams. He has made 35 three-pointers but is shooting just 25.9 percent from beyond the arc. His 41 steals are the most on the squad.
 
All-Time Series
Texas State leads the all-time series 5-2 but saw its four-game winning streak over South Alabama come to an end in the first meeting this season on Jan. 14 in overtime (72-67). In the game, Pearson scored a team-high 14 points and had four steals while grabbing seven rebounds. Also reaching double-figures was Conley (13) and Gilder-Tilbury (10). Immanuel King came close to a double-double with eight points and team-high nine rebounds.
 
When taking on the Jaguars at home, the Bobcats have won all three meetings. Last season saw Texas State come away with a 68-57 victory to clinch the seventh seed in that year's conference tournament. This will be the second straight year that the Bobcats and USA have faced off on Texas State's senior game.
 
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.