ARLINGTON, Texas – Senior Kavin Gilder-Tilbury scored a team-high 15 points to move into 10th place on the Texas State career scoring list in the team's 76-61 defeat at UTA Saturday evening in the College Park Center. The Houston native now has 1,166 points in his Bobcat career.
 
The Bobcats drop to 13-9 on the season and 6-4 in the Sun Belt Conference while the Mavericks are now 17-6 overall and 7-3 in conference play. The loss also snapped Texas State's three-game overall and road winning streaks.
 
"It was a very disappointing loss. They played very well, were very focused and ready for us today," said head coach Danny Kaspar. "I was disappointed with our interior defense tonight. We let Jorge Bilbao, who is not a very accomplished scorer, have too good of a night. We need to bounce back and get ready for next weekend."
 
Ojai Black hit a three-pointer from the left wing to put Texas State up 3-2, the team's lone lead of the half. UTA answered with six straight points until Pearson hit a jumper and Black nailed his second triple to knot the score 8-8.
 
After trading baskets, the Mavs went on a 14-0 run over the next 4:58. Maxwell Starwood ended the run when nailing a turnaround jumper from the free throw line.
 
The Bobcats were able to cut the deficit to 28-20 following a layup by Nedeljko Prijovic and a slam courtesy of Gilder-Tilbury after Prijovic swiped the ball away. Three more times Texas State was able to cut the deficit to eight with the last being coming at the 1:33 mark after Nijal Pearson knocked down a triple from the left corner.
 
Black made two free throws with 36.1 seconds remaining in the half to make it 39-30 for the Mavs. The Bobcats' defense held off three last second shot attempts by UTA to take a single-digit deficit into halftime.
 
On the team's second possession of the second half, Pearson found a cutting Gilder-Tilbury to pull the Bobcats to within seven. However, the Mavericks responded with a 7-0 run to go up by double-digits that they would maintain for the rest of the game.
 
The closest that Texas State would get was 12 following a jumper from the charity stripe followed by a three- pointer courtesy of Marlin Davis with 5:55 remaining.
 
Black was the only other Bobcat to crack double-digits with 10 points, all in the first half. Pearson added nine points and Prijovic netted six coming off the bench.
 
Immanuel King grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Both Bobby Conley and Prijovic recorded two steals apiece.
 
Scoring five points with a made three-pointer and two free throws was Nathan Josephs in only two minutes of action.
 
Texas State was held to 39.2 percent shooting (20-51) but made 14-of-20 (70.0%) at the free throw line. The Mavericks made 60.4 percent of their shots, were 8-for-17 (47.1%) from beyond the arc but struggled at the charity stripe going 10-of-21 (47.6%).
 
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