CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Freshman center Alonzo Sule scored a career-high 22 points and Nijal Pearson added 16 to lead the Texas State men's basketball team  to a 61-55 victory Wednesday at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the American Bank Center.
 
Sule scored 14 of his points in the second half when the Bobcats outscored the Islanders 37-31 after the score was tied 24-24 at halftime.
 
Both teams struggled to score in the opening minutes of the game as the Islanders led 3-2 after four minutes of play. Eric Terry scored Texas State's first two points on a layup, while Jashawn Talton nailed a three-point shot for the Islanders' only basket.
 
Texas State took its first lead on its first possession after the timeout when Pearson scored his first three points of the game on an old-fashioned three-point play with a layup and free throw.
 
Then, Sule expanded the lead to 9-3 when he made two layups on assists from Tre'Larenz Nottingham. The Islanders answered with a jumper in the paint by Tre' Gray and Talton made a jumper on the left wing.
 
After Sule added another layup off a fast break, A&M-Corpus Christi used a 7-0 run to regain a 14-9 lead. Alex Peacock scored his first two points of the game with a pair of free throws before Eric Terry gave the Bobcats a 15-14 lead with his second layup in the game. The two teams fought back and forth the rest of the first half and were tied 24-24 at intermission.
 
Texas State appeared to seize control of the game when they opened the second half with an 8-3 run to take a 32-27 lead. Pearson scored six points and Peacock added two more on a layup after grabbing a rebound. But, the Islanders refused to go away as they used a 12-4 run to take a 39-36 lead with 9:29 left to play, forcing head coach Danny Kaspar to call timeout.
 
The Bobcats responded with five straight points on a three-point field goal by Pearson and a layup by Sule to take a 41-39 lead.
 
The two teams exchanged baskets until the game was tied for the eighth time at 47-47 with 3:40 left to play. Texas State regained the lead at 50-47 when Pearson hit Sule for a layup. He also was fouled on the play and made the free throw, giving him 19 points in the game.
 
After Jalon Clark scored on a layup for A&M-Corpus Christi, Sule made a pair of free throws after grabbing an offensive rebound. He made another free throw on Texas State's next possession to give the Bobcats a 53-49 lead with 1:05 left to play.
 
Nottingham made six free throws and Shead added two more free throws down the stretch to clinch the victory for Texas State.
 
Nottingham finished with six points, six assists and five rebounds for Texas State, while Peacock scored six points and nine rebounds.
 
The victory improves Texas State's record to 8-1 and that is the best start for the Bobcats since 1960-61 when Texas State also began that year 8-1. The Bobcats are 3-1 in road games this year. Meanwhile, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi falls to 4-5 overall this season.
 
Texas State's next game will be this Saturday when the Bobcats host Houston Baptist at 4 p.m. at Strahan Arena.