Men's Basketball | 2/3/2017 5:20:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The second half of Sun Belt Conference plays begins for the Texas State men's basketball team with a trip up I-35 to take on UTA at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday in the College Park Center.
 
Both teams are tied for fourth in league's standings at 6-3. The Bobcats are 13-8 overall, the team's best start in 14 years, while the Mavericks are 16-6.
 
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. The game will also be broadcast in the North and Central Texas areas on Spectrum Sports (Ch. 323) with Tom Franklin and Neal Raphael providing the play-by-play and analyst, respectively.
 
Last Time Out
Texas State earned its first-ever win over Appalachian State on the road and won its third consecutive road conference game of the season. The victory also gave the Bobcats its best start in conference play since the 2010-11 seasons.
 
Over the past three games, Texas State is allowing just 54.0 points per game. Overall, the Bobcats are allowing 62.8 ppg that ranks 18^th in the nation.
 
Kavin Gilder-Tilbury inched closer to cracking the program's top 10 career list with a 13-point performance against the Mountaineers. His 1,151 career points are 10 points shy of tying Richard Bryant (1974-76). The senior also moved into a tie for ninth in school history in career blocks following three rejections on Monday.
 
Nijal Pearson led Texas State with 14 points on Monday night and his seven rebounds tied for the most on the squad with Immanuel King. The freshman also finished the day with two assists and two steals.
 
After dishing out six assists, Ojai Black is closing in on adding his name to the program's career assist list. He is six away from matching Stacy Bennett's (1988-90) career total of 229 that ranks 10^th all-time.
 
Scouting UTA
UTA split last weekend's road games with a victory over Appalachian State and following just short of a comeback victory at Coastal Carolina. At home this season the Mavericks are 8-0 with a 4-0 mark against SBC opponents. All of their home conference games have been decided by 15 or more points.
 
Kevin Hervey leads UTA in scoring (16.3), rebounding (8.0) and free throw percentage (78.5). His 25 steals are the second highest on the team. He has made 46.2 percent of his shots, 33.9 percent on three-pointers.
 
Jalen Jones is second on the squad in scoring (12.9) and three-point percentage (35.6) and third in field goal percentage (48.9) and free throw percentage (71.1). He has made 36 treys and is averaging 4.0 rebounds per game.
 
Dishing out 6.7 assists per game, the seventh most in the country, is Erick Neal. The junior point guard is scoring 10.0 points per game while pacing the SBC in steals (40) and steals per game (1.82).
 
Jorge Bilbao is putting up 8.1 ppg with a 53.0 shooting percentage and 6.8 rpg. The top threat from beyond the arc is Drew Charles with a team-high 42 made three-pointers and 42.2 three-point percentage.
 
Coming off the bench, Kaelon Wilson has made a team-high 53.2 percent of his field goal attempts and is scoring 9.3 ppg. However, he has only made 9-of-39 (23.1%) from long distance and made just 65.7 percent of his free throws.
 
All-Time Series
Leading the all-time series 35-31 and winners of 11 of the last 13 is UTA. The Bobcats won the first meeting this season 81-73 on Jan. 7 behind a 55 percent shooting night. Gilder-Tilbury led the way with 21 points and Black netted a career-high 16 points. Also cracking double-digits in the game was Bobby Conley (10) and Pearson (14).
 
When playing in Arlington, Texas State is 10-20. The last victory on the road came on Jan. 9, 2010 by a score of 64-60. The Bobcats have never beaten the Mavericks since they moved into the College Park Center.
 
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.