Men's Basketball | 1/5/2018 3:55:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Saturday will see a rematch of the 2017 Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship game between the Texas State men's basketball team and Troy. Tipoff in the lone slated meeting between the teams is at 4:30 p.m. inside Strahan Coliseum.
 
The Bobcats enter the game 9-7 on the season and 2-1 in conference play while the Trojans are 7-9 overall and one of seven teams with a 1-2 SBC record.
 
ESPN3 will stream the game with Drew Fellios providing the play-by-play and Bob Donewald as the color analyst. Live stats will also be available for the game with a link on the team's schedule page.
 
Bill Culhane will have the call on the radio with the game being broadcast on AM 1300 The Zone out of Austin and KTSW 89.9 FM out of San Marcos. Fans can also listen to the game through the iHeartRadio and TuneIn Radio apps on their mobile devices.
 
Continuing to lead TXST in scoring is Nijal Pearson at 14.4 points per game. He is shooting 41.7 percent from the field but has increased his shooting prowess to 47.1 percent in conference action. The Beaumont, Texas native is tied with Alex Peacock for the team lead with 21 steals while Pearson is second with 27 made three-pointers.
 
Immanuel King is coming off a career-high 16-point performance against South Alabama. For the season, he is averaging 9.8 ppg with a 61.9 field goal percentage that ranks second in the Sun Belt. The senior paces the team with 6.2 rebounds per game and 33 offensive boards.
 
Entering Saturday with a team best 28 made three-pointers is Tyler Blount. The Virginia Beach, Virginia native has made 40.0 percent of his long distance attempts on his way to putting up 7.6 ppg. In the past four games, he has been hitting the glass and retrieving 3.8 boards per contest.
 
Third on the team in scoring at 8.1 ppg is Peacock. He has made 51.9 percent of his shots and a team-high 77.3 percent at the free throw line. His 31 assists and 5.4 rpg rank second and third, respectively, on the Bobcat roster.
 
After a career-high tying seven assists against on Thursday, Marlin Davis increased his average to 3.7 per game.
 
Scouting Troy
Troy is coming off an 86-76 loss at UTA Thursday night. It was the Trojans' sixth loss in their last eight games. Their lone SBC victory was at home against Georgia State by the score of 68-66 on New Year's Eve. Troy's first conference loss was to Georgia Southern and was decided by six points.
 
Wesley Person leads the Trojans, is third in the conference and 32nd in the nation at 20.9 ppg. He is also seventh in the country with 56 made treys and 11 with 3.50 made three-pointers per game. Overall, the senior has made 47.8 percent of his field goal attempts and 44.4 percent from beyond the arc.
 
Jordon Varnado is netting 17.4 ppg but missed the last seven non-conference games because of a foot injury. The junior forward is second on the squad with 6.3 rpg. He has also connected on 47.0 percent of his shots but is 7-for-29 (24.1%) on long distance attempts.
 
Stepping up with Varnado out was Alex Hicks. He netted a team-high 21 points that saw him connect on both of his three-point tries and grab seven rebounds against the Mavericks. For the season, the junior is averaging 11.3 ppg and paces Troy with a 55.4 field goal percentage, 7.9 rpg and 27 blocks.
 
Kevin Baker is the Trojans starting point guard and is dishing out 3.9 apg. He has made 22 three-pointers but connected on just 26.6 percent of his attempts from that distance.
 
Others contributing six points or more a game are Juan Davis, Jr. (6.5), Javan Johnson (6.1) and B.J. Miller (7.4).
 
All-Time vs. Jaguars
Texas State leads the all-time series over Troy 6-4. Last season saw the Bobcats win both regular season meeting but fall in the SBC Tournament finals. TXST has won the three regular season meeting and five of the last six. Texas State is 4-0 all-time against the Trojans when playing in Strahan Coliseum.
 
Last year when the teams met in San Marcos, the Bobcats came away with a 63-59 victory. The TXST seniors led the way with a combined 43 points led by Kavin Gilder-Tilbury's 17. Both Ojai Black and Bobby Conley added 13 points each. Pearson was held to two points but grabbed 10 rebounds.
 
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 Instagram and Twitter at @TxStateMBB and like on Facebook at /TexasStateMensBasketball.