ARLINGTON, Texas – In what was an intense and important game to cap off the regular season, the Texas State men's basketball team (23-8, 12-6 Sun Belt) fell short vs. UT Arlington (16-15, 12-6 Sun Belt), 81-73 at the College Park Center on UTA's senior day. With the loss, the Bobcats will fall out of contention for either of the top two seeds in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.  
 
"I want to give credit to UTA," head coach Danny Kaspar said. "They are a good basketball team especially on the defensive end, but we have to get back to the drawing board and play defense the way we did to win 23 games. I was very disappointed that we gave up 81 points on the road on 52 percent shooting."
 
For the eight time this season the Bobcats finished the game with four players scoring in double figures. Junior guard Nijal Pearson and freshman guard Mason Harrell led the team with 13 points apiece, while junior guard Jaylen Shead and junior forward Quentin Scott tallied 12 points, a new career-high for Scott. Shead also led the team with seven rebound and seven assists. TXST shot 43.1 percent (22-of-51) from the field and 78.1 percent (25-of-32) from the free throw line. However, the Bobcats continued their struggles from 3-point territory, finishing 4-of-22 in the setback.
 
UTA's junior guard Brian Warren torched the Bobcat defense for 24 points on 50 percent shooting from the floor (8-of-16), including a 4-of-7 night from deep. Warren has exploded for 54 points vs. the Bobcats this season after logging a season-best 30 points vs. Texas State on Feb. 2. In this game, the Indianapolis, Ind. native also recorded four assists and a game-high three steals. Junior guard Edric Dennis scored 15 points and led the Mavericks with five dimes. The Mavericks stretch of efficient shooting continued for the Mavericks as they shot over 50 percent (26-of-50) for the third consecutive game and will enter the tournament on a four-game winning streak.  
 
The Bobcats faced adversity early on as they picked up four fouls before the first media timeout, including two awarded to Pearson less than 30 seconds from tip-off. UTA took advantage of the TXST's frustration and jumped out to an eight-point lead after Warren drained a triple from the top of the key. Pearson would respond, however, with a personal 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 17-15 at the 11:36 mark. Senior forward Alex Peacock's second chance basket brought UTA's lead down to one with 8:22 on the clock, but the Mavs answered with a 15-4 run to hold a 38-26 lead, the largest of the half, with 2:55 remaining in the stanza. The Bobcats would catch fire and ended the frame on an 11-5 run to go into the half down, 43-37 despite recording 13 fouls in the period.
 
"I do believe that when you call two quick fouls on Nijal [Pearson], it changes the players way of thinking in terms of aggressiveness," Kaspar stated. "I am not very happy for the way the game was called but it is what it is."
 
UTA opened the second half with a 12-2 run highlighted by eight unanswered points behind two triples from junior guard TiAndre Jackson-Young. The Bobcats would string together six straight points to build some momentum, however, Warren splashed again from behind-the-arc and proceeded to do so two more times in the half. The Mavericks led by as many as 16 points in the second half, and although the Bobcats made it interesting with a late 13-4 run with seconds remaining to cut the lead down to five, UTA sealed the game at the free throw line to complete the regular season sweep with an 81-73 victory.
 
"It's a very somber mood right now," Kaspar concluded. "We thought we could come up here and win, but we got beat by a good team on their home court. We did not play the type of game we needed to play in order to beat this team, UTA, on their home court."
 
The Bobcats will head to New Orleans, La to compete in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at the Lakefront Arena next week. More details to follow right here at Txstatebobcats.com.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
 
• Nijal Pearson made his 100th career start for the Bobcats to become the program's all-time leader. He also moved to No. 2 on the career made 3-point field goals (174), passing Brady Richeson (172; 1999-2003)
• Jaylen Shead now has 15 games this season with five or more assists and eight games with seven or more assists.
• Texas State had three players with three fouls after the first half (Nijal Pearson, Mason Harrell, and Shelby Adams).
• This game marks the first time the Bobcats top two leading scorers registerd back-to-back games without a field goal (Pearson 0-of-8 at South Alabama March 2, senior guard Tre'Larenz Nottingham 0-of-7 at UTA March 9).
• The Bobcats have lost the last nine meetings at UTA.
• A combined 49 fouls were called in the game.
 
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