SAN MARCOS, Texas – Senior guard Tre'Larenz Nottingham matched a career-high 27 points Saturday night at Strahan Arena, but a late run by Florida International (20-13) put the historic Texas State men's basketball team's (24-10) season to rest with an 87-81 loss in the Collegeinsider.com Tournament.
 
The Bobcats held a 74-66 advantage with less than five minutes remaining to play before the Panthers went on a massive 21-7 run to seal the game. The Bobcats shot 50 percent from the floor (15-of-30) and 72 percent from the charity stripe (15-of-21). They won the rebounding battle 42-32 with 26 offensive rebounds that transferred into 25 second-chance points. However, FIU was able to stick around due to good free throw shooting, a few Bobcat turnovers, and a pair of triples from junior forward Devon Andrews. Andrews and senior guard Brian Beard Jr. dropped a game-high 29 points apiece for FIU and combined for 15-of-21 at the free throw line. Junior forward Osasumwen Osaghae ( six points) pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds for the Panthers.
 
In what was his final game with the Maroon and Gold, Nottingham made four 3-pointers, bringing his season total to 87, No. 2 in the program's single-season record book. Junior guard Jaylen Shead followed with 16 points and three dimes, and sophomore guard Shelby Adams had a season-high 12 points and was one rebound shy of logging a double-double. Junior forward Eric Terry also turned in 12 points to mark the 10th time the Bobcats concluded a game with four players scoring in double figures this year.
 
A tightly contested first half began with the Bobcats converting on their first three field goal attempts. They would then go scoreless for over four minutes, while the Panthers went on a 6-0 run to take an 18-9 lead at the 14:11 mark. Terry put an end to that run with a bucket in the paint to ignite a Bobcat 10-2 run to cut FIU's lead to 20-19. Both teams exchanged buckets, but a pair of 3-pointers from Nottingham and Shead, along with another basket from Nottingham gave the Bobcats their first lead of the night at 33-32 with 3:53 remaining in the half. The Panthers responded and outscored the Bobcats 12-4 before Shead ended the period with a triple as time expired and the Bobcats went into the break down 44-40.
 
The buzzard-beater seemed to lift the Bobcats as they took a 50-49 lead before hitting the first media timeout and grew their lead to as many as nine points. It looked to be all Texas State after Nottingham hit what was his final 3-pointer of the night to put the home team ahead 74-66 with the clock reading 4:49, however, FIU battled back with an 8-0 run highlighted by Andrews' triple to tie the game at 74. After both clubs exchanged free throws, Nottingham scored on a layup before Andrews dropped another bomb from deep to give FIU a 79-78 advantage with 2:40 left in regulation. TXST responded quickly with a layup from Shead to go ahead 80-79, but the Panthers closed the game out with an 8-1 run, shooting 4-of-6 at the stripe to seal the game.
 
The Texas State men's basketball program silenced many critics this year by winning 24 games and tied for second place in the Sun Belt Conference (12-6) after being picked to finish No. 8 in the preseason poll. This year marks the second in three seasons that the Bobcats finished with 20-plus wins and logged its highest win total since the 1993-94 season when the Bobcats posted a 25-7 record. Head coach Danny Kaspar recorded his most successful season at the helm of the program and moved to No. 3 for most wins by a head coach in the program's history at 98.   
 
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