PORTLAND, Ore. – Trailing by seven at halftime after a rough offensive period, the Texas State men's basketball came back to defeat Cal Poly 54-42 Wednesday evening in the Chiles Center. Nijal Pearson led all players with 22 points, 18 of which came in the final 20 minutes.
 
With the win, the Bobcats improve to 3-1 on the season while the Mustangs drop to 1-3.
 
"I thought our players gave great effort on the defensive end all game long," said head coach Danny Kaspar. "We had a bad first half offensively with turnovers and missing easy shots. We got it going in the second half. I am very happy that Nijal was able to play such a great game on his birthday."
 
TXST jumped out to an 8-0 lead that was capped off with a jumper from Isaiah Gurley at the 14:51 mark. Defensively, the Bobcats held CP scoreless until there was 13:46 on the clock when Job Alexander converted two free throws.
 
Those charity stripe makes would start a 13-0 run for the Mustangs that lasted 9:27 until Pearson knocked down a fadeaway jumper with 5:24 left until halftime. The junior would knock down a long jumper from just inside the arc to cut the deficit to one on the next possession.
 
CP would go on to score 10 of the final 14 points of the half to take a 23-16 lead into the break. Texas State got a jumper from Alonzo Sule and a layup by Jaylen Shead with four seconds remaining during that span.
 
Pearson knocked down a three-pointer from the left corner for the opening points of the second half. The basket moved him past Joel Wright for 20^th on the program's career scoring list.
 
The Bobcats would go on to score 14 of the first 19 points of the second half to take a 30-28 lead that came on a three-pointer courtesy of Pearson. The Mustangs would tie it up their next time down the court with 13:59 showing on the clock.
 
For the next 8:19, Texas State went on a 17-2 run that was capped off with two treys and a jumper in the paint from Pearson.
 
CP was able to pull to within nine with 2:30 remaining after six straight points but Shead hit a three-pointer from the right wing to make it a double-digit advantage again. Alex Peacock iced the contest with two free throws with 38.9 left in the contest.
 
Pearson finished 8-for-16 shooting and knocked down 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. The junior also grabbed a season-high six rebounds, dished out two assists and recorded two steals. He is now up to 1,040 career points and is five shy of tying Emani Gant for 19^th-place in program history.
 
For Peacock, he recorded his second career double-double and the first by a Bobcat this season with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Tre'Larenz Nottingham made only one trey on the night but dished out a season-high seven assists, one shy of matching his career best.
 
As a team, TXST outrebounded the Mustangs 36-22 with an 11-4 edge on the offensive glass. The Bobcats shot 42.3 percent from the field and held CP to 36.6 percent.
 
Next up for the Bobcats is USC Upstate on Friday at 6:30 p.m. inside the Chiles Center.
 
For more information on the Texas State men's basketball team, visit the official website of Texas State Athletics at www.txstatebobcats.com, like on Facebook at Texas State Men's Basketball and follow on Instagram and Twitter at @TxStateMBB.