SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State men's basketball team had its worst shooting night of the season and ULM took advantage when the Warhawks handed the Bobcats a 63-60 loss Thursday night in Strahan Arena.
 
"It was a disappointing loss to say the least," said Texas State head coach Danny Kaspar. "I thought we lost this game primarily at the end of the first half, but they also stretched it to a 14-point lead (in the second half)."
 
Playing in front of a crowd of 4,342, the Bobcats shot just 30 percent (9-30) from the field, including 21.4 percent (3-14) behind the three-point arc in the first half.
 
ULM took advantage in the final 4:59 of the first half when the Warhawks used an 11-0 run to take a 10-point lead. Tre'Larenz Nottingham made two free throws for Texas State's only points during that stretch as the Bobcats trailed 36-28 at halftime. 
 
Texas State had some chances to come back in the second half. The first came when the Bobcats closed to within 40-36 following layups by Jaylen Shead and Eric Terry.
 
But, TXST lost its shooting touch again  as the Warhawks opened up their biggest lead in the game, 54-40, on a three-point shot by Travis Munnings.
 
The Bobcats tried to climb back into contention when Nijal Pearson made a pair of free throws for two of his eight points in the game, and Nottingham nailed a three-point shot from the right wing to pull Texas State back to within nine, 54-45.
 
ULM was still holding a nine-point lead with 3:43 left to play when Texas State mounted another comeback attempt.
 
Nottingham made the second of his two free throws and Pearson added a layup to cut the lead down to six. Following a layup by ULM's Daishon Smith, Nottingham nailed another three-pointer from the top of the key to make the score 63-58 with 1:15 left to play.
 
Smith missed the front end of a one-and-one and Pearson hit Terry for a layup with 39 seconds left to play to pull the Bobcats to within 63-60.
 
Texas State had a chance to tie the score with three seconds left, but Smith blocked Nottingham's three-point shot, and the clock ran out.
 
"I was glad we bounced back," Kaspar said. "I was happy to see that. But there were some very open three-point shots that we missed. We might run a play for some of those shots and they just would not fall."
 
The loss drops Texas State (21-6, 10-4 Sun Belt) back into a first-place tie in the Sun Belt Conference standings with Georgia State. ULM (14-11, 7-6 Sun Belt) remains tied with Louisiana for fifth place in the standings.
 
Nottingham finished with a game-high 22 points and Terry had a double-double with career-highs of 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Bobcats. ULM was led by Munnings and Michael Ertel's 13 points, while JD Williams had 11 points and Andre Washington added 10 off the bench.
 
 
"We didn't play this game indicative of the way we had played last four games," Kaspar said. "We held Smith, Ertel and Munnings below their season averages. We made 12 of our 14 free throws and I think overall, we played okay defensively. The primary culprit tonight was poor shooting."
 
The Bobcats will try to regain their shooting touch on Saturday when they host Louisiana at 4 p.m. It will be Texas State's final home game before the Bobcats end the regular season with road games at Troy, South Alabama and UT Arlington.