LAFAYETTE, La. – The Texas State men's basketball team appeared to be on its way to a big victory in the Cajundome Thursday night, but a couple of big shots from Louisiana's Jay Wright in the final minute sent the game to overtime. The Ragin' Cajuns pulled away in the extra period to down the Bobcats 94-84.
 
With the loss, Texas State dropped to 17-12 overall and 10-7 in the Sun Belt Conference while LA is now 19-11 on the season and 9-8 in conference play. Despite the loss the Bobcats still remain in the hunt for a top four seed in the SBC Tournament after Arkansas State lost to Troy this evening.
 
Texas State jumped out to a 9-4 lead four minutes into the game as Nijal Pearson connected on 3-of-4 shots including a three-pointer. The Bobcats would maintain the lead until a 6-0 run by LA on a banked in three-pointer put them up 20-19 with 6:56 remaining in the half.
 
After trading baskets for the next two minutes, Bobby Conley converted a layup to put Texas State back in front. Immanuel King converted a layup after a feed from Tyler Blount to increase the Bobcat advantage to 33-28 at the 2:41 mark.
 
Those would be the last points of the half for Texas State as the Cajuns closed the period with seven straight points capped off by a three-pointer at the buzzer from Johnathan Stove.
 
Right off the bat Ojai Black tied the game as he converted an old-fashion three-point play on the opening possession. Two free throws from Conley put the Bobcats back in front 42-41 with 18:11 left in the game.
 
The teams traded baskets until Kavin Gilder-Tilbury knocked down a trey from the right corner and Pearson got down the lane for a layup make it a five-point advantage for Texas State.
 
LA was able to get within three following a layup with just under 11 minutes to go. Pearson answered with his third three-pointer of the game from the right wing to give the Bobcats a 58-52 advantage. Texas State took their largest lead of the game at 63-54 following a three-pointer by Gilder-Tilbury at the 6:36 mark.
 
A long triple from the Ragin' Cajuns' Jay Wright cut the lead to 70-69 with 49 ticks left. With three seconds left on the shot clock, Gilder-Tilbury pulled up for a three-pointer from the right wing to make it a four-point advantage. However, Wright answered with a quick three eight seconds later.
 
Conley was fouled on the ensuing in-bound but connected on just one of his two attempts. Wright then drove the length of the court for a layup to tie the game 74-74. Nedeljko Prijovic had a chance to win the game but his three-pointer was off the mark but the ball went out of bounds off a LA player with 0.9 on the clock. Pearson had a shot from the right wing but went just long as the game went to overtime.
 
To open the extra period, Gilder-Tilbury connected on a one of his two free throw attempts on the opening possession. The Cajuns scored four straight but King got a layup to fall and converted the ensuing free throw to knot the score at 78-78. LA then went on a 10-1 run over the next 1:31 that put the Bobcats in too big of a hole to come back from.
 
Gilder-Tilbury led all scorers with 21 points as he scored 19 after halftime. He made 8-of-13 from the field and was 3-for-6 on three-pointers. The senior also had two steals and blocked a shot. For his career, Gilder-Tilbury has 1,300 points to move him into eighth place in program history.
 
Netting 20 points was Pearson on 8-of-16 shooting and made a career-high three treys. Black also reached double-figures as he tied his career-high of 16 points behind a 6-for-7 shooting performance. He also dished out a game-high six assists and grabbed four rebounds.
 
Pacing TXST with six rebounds and two rejections was Immanuel King. Prijovic came off the bench to score eight points, record two steals and block a shot.
 
The Bobcats finished 32-for-56 (57.1%) from the field and 8-of-19 (42.1%) from beyond the arc. However, they only connected on 12-of-22 (54.5%) free throws and were outrebounded 39-22.
 
Next up for Texas State is the regular season finale at ULM on Saturday with tip set for 2 p.m.
 
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.