SAN MARCOS, Texas (AP)  – Senior guard Nijal Pearson scored a season-high 30 points to help Texas State (7-4) route Bethany College (6-8) 117-65 Sunday evening at Strahan Arena. The Bobcats are now 2-0 when scoring at least 100 points this season, and posted a season-high 21 assists on 48 made field goals.
 
The turning point of the game was Texas State's massive 35-7 run that began at the 5:27 mark in the first half and spilled into the second half. The Bobcats ended the first stanza on a 22-7 run, highlighted by a 12-0 burst, and capped off with a triple from Pearson to give the home team a 55-36 lead at the half. The Maroon and Gold picked up where they left off by opening the second half on a 13-0 run and never looked back.
 
Senior forward Eric Terry added a career-high 20 points while freshman guard Drew Tennial and junior guard Marlin Davis rounded out the Bobcats' scoring leaders with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
 
Sophomore guard Dalton Smyres was the only Swede to score in double figures with 12 points, while senior guard Justin Jones and sophomore guard Braylen Young each had nine points.
 

TEAM NOTES
• It was the most points the Bobcats have scored in the Danny Kaspar era (117).
• It was the first game that two players scored 20 or more points since Pearson (22) and Tre'Larenz Nottingham (22) did it vs. Howard Payne on Dec. 29, 2018.
• Texas State shot 69.6 percent from the floor (48-of-69) and 47.4 percent from 3-point range (9-of-19). Both are season-highs.
• Texas State had four or more players score in double figures for the third time this season and are 3-0 in those games.
• The Bobcats had a 38-19 rebounding margin and outscored the Swedes in the paint (52-12), from the bench (41-28), and off of turnovers (25-16).
• Texas State ran away with the game in the second half where they outscored Bethany 62-29.
 
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
• Pearson scored 21 of his 30 points in the first half. He shot 11-of-15 from the floor, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range. Pearson also finished with six boards, a season-high three steals, two assists, and one block.
• Pearson passes Charles Spurlin to move to No. 13 on the program's career rebounding list with a total of 624. He is one of 10 NCAA active players across all divisions to have 1,500 career points and 600 career rebounds.
• In addition to his 20 points, Terry had a season-high .900 field goal percentage (9-of-10) to go along with six rebounds, one assist, and one steal.
• Tennial set a new career-high with 13 points (6-of-7) and had a season-best five rebounds. He also matched Pearson with three steals.
• Davis matched his season-high of 11 points for the third time this season and chipped in three assists, three rebounds, and one steal.
• Freshman guard Mason Harrell matched a career-high six assists and finished the game with nine points on 3-of-5 shooting. Sophomore guard Caleb Asberry also had nine points (4-of-7).
• Junior forward Isiah Small led all players with seven rebounds and joined junior guard Shelby Adams by scoring eight points.
 
UP NEXT
Texas State jumps into league play next weekend starting with a 6 p.m. CT tip on Thursday, Dec. 19 at Georgia Southern in Statesboro, Ga. They will end the weekend at Georgia State at 1 p.m. CT Saturday, Dec. 21 in Atlanta, Ga.
 
QUOTABLE
Head coach Danny Kaspar
Initial thoughts about the game…
"It was good to get this victory after two losses. We needed a win like this. A lot of people got to play today, and I was happy to see the performances of Nijal [Pearson] and Eric [Terry]. We still have to rebound better especially getting into conference play now, but I am glad for the victory."
 
On the non-conference schedule and entering into the conference slate…
"I want us to play strong basketball. I want to see us rebound better, defend better and continue to take care of the ball on this trip to open conference. The UTSA game knocked us down a little bit and in that game, we did not defend or rebound. Both the Baylor and Houston games I thought we played very well so I am really just talking about two games in this non-conference schedule that we did not play well and that is at Air Force and vs. UTSA. Other than that, I think our team has performed very well and I hope we continue that especially on the road where we have our first four conference games."
 
Senior guard Nijal Pearson
On his 30-point game and conference play…
"I was just comfortable tonight. It was long overdue, but at the same time, I do not think I played great. Thirty points is good, and it was good timing for us to get that at this point of the season, but I think I need to play at this level consistently, especially in conference play. Not to say that the other games did not matter, but now it gets real."
 
Senior forward Eric Terry
On his career-high game…
"I am glad that I was able to put together a good game tonight. I have been in a slump lately and the coaches sat me down and told me that they will need me in conference. Tonight was a good start and good for my confidence so I am hoping that it rolls over into next weekend and beyond."
 
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