NEW ORLEANS – The Texas State men's basketball team shot over 50 percent from the field and nearly 77 percent at the free throw line while limiting UTA offensively on its way to an 83-62 victory Saturday afternoon in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament semifinals. The Bobcats will play in their first SBC championship game and first conference finals appearance since 1999.
 
TXST improves to 20-12 on the season, its first 20-win campaign since 1993-94, while the Mavericks drop to 25-8.



An 8-2 run by UTA early in the game allowed the Mavericks to take a 10-4 lead. Twice TXST was able to pull to within three after a three-pointer by Bobby Conley and a jumper off the glass from Nijal Pearson.
 
Down by four with 7:07 to play in the opening stanza, the Bobcats went on an 8-0 run started by an old-fashion three-point play from Nedeljko Prijovic. Immanuel King scored the next five points with back-to-back layups to make it a 30-26 advantage.
 
TXST scored the final six points of the period after the Mavericks cut the lead to three on a layup. King made his fifth field goal of the game to start the scoring and both Conley and Prijovic made two free throws apiece.
 
Layups by Conley and King twice gave the Bobcats an 11-point advantage, their largest of the game. UTA pulled to within 47-42 thanks to an 8-2 run. That would be as close as the Mavericks would get as the Bobcats scored 19 of the next 23 points with Conley hitting back-to-back left corner three-pointers.
 
A layup from Black gave Texas State a 23-point lead, the largest of the game. Nathan Josephs tallied the final points for the Bobcats with a three-pointer with just under a minute left in the game.
 
Pacing TXST with 16 points was Conley on 5-of-7 shooting with a 4-for-5 performance from beyond the arc.
 
Adding 14 was Pearson, who connected on 4-of-8 field goal attempts. The freshman also knocked down 6-of-8 free throws, grabbed five rebounds and dished out four assists.
 
King scored a career-high 13 points, 11 of which came in the first half, with a 6-for-8 performance from the field. He also grabbed five rebounds.
 
Also cracking double-figures was Gilder-Tilbury with 12 points and Prijovic with 11. Gilder-Tilbury led TXST with six rebounds and two steals.
 
Black finished with eight points and six assists without any turnovers. Maxwell Starwood led all players with two blocks.

Next for the Bobcats will be a meeting with either Georgia State or Troy on Sunday at 1 p.m. CDT on ESPN2 in the championship game with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.

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.