SAN MARCOS, Texas – A last-second shot came up short for Texas State (12-9, 5-5 Sun Belt) as its four-game winning streak is snapped at the hands of rival UT Arlington (9-12, 5-5 Sun Belt) after a heartbreaking 64-62 loss Saturday evening at Strahan Arena.

With the Mavericks leading 60-51 with 5:31 left in the game, the Bobcats caught fire offensively and got back in the game thanks to a 9-2 run, capped off by a four-point play by senior guard Nijal Pearson that brought the score to 62-59 with 26 seconds remaining. UT Arlington's senior guard Brian Warren Jr. hit both free-throws to put the visiting team ahead by four points, but sophomore guard Caleb Asberry converted two free-throws on the ensuing possession to bring the score to 64-62 with nine ticks left. The Mavericks inbounded the ball to sophomore guard Davis Azore who was smothered quickly and the referees called a jump ball with the possession arrow in Texas State's favor with six seconds remaining. After inbounding the ball to senior forward Eric Terry, he found Pearson on the wing and he put up a three-pointer but the ball hit the front of the rim and time expired giving UTA its fifth consecutive win over Texas State in the all-time series.

Pearson turned in a game-high 26 points and shot 8-of-16 from the floor, including three 3-pointers, and was a perfect 7-of-7 from the free-throw line. Pearson also recorded four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Junior forward Isiah Small finished with a double-double with 11 points and matched a season-high 12 rebounds.
   
Azore led the Mavericks with 19 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals in the contest, while senior forward Radshad Davis chipped in 10 points, a team-high eight rebounds and one assist.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
The Bobcats jumped out by scoring the first nine points of the game and held an 11-2 margin for the largest lead of the half. The Mavericks responded, however, and cut the lead to 11-9 before a quick 5-0 spurt by the home team gave them a 16-9 lead. UTA got things going offensively from that moment on with a 6-0 run, to get within one point at 16-15 with 7:10 left on the clock, and later in the half used a 7-0 run to take a 33-31 lead capped by a jumper from freshman guard Sam Griffin with 50 seconds left to play in the half. On the next possession, Pearson found the bottom of the net with a triple to put the Bobcats back out in front 34-33 with 18 seconds left, but UTA hit two free-throws to go into the half with a 35-34 lead. Pearson led all players with 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting and Azore led the way for UTA with 15 points and four rebounds.
 
Second Half
Texas State had another fast start and regained the lead at 42-37 behind an 8-2 run, but UT Arlington weathered the storm again and used an 8-0 run to take back a 45-42 lead at the 12:33 mark. After both teams went cold for a few minutes, UTA's junior forward Coleman Sparling got the scoring going with a triple and after a dunk by Terry for the Bobcats, Griffin hit again from deep to give UTA a 55-49 lead with 7:21 on the clock. The visiting team kept it rolling offensively and connected on another 3-pointer, this time from senior forward Jabari Narcis to give UTA its largest lead of the game at 60-51. The Bobcats made one last push and went on a 9-2 scoring run, highlighted by Pearson's four-point play to cut the deficit to 62-60. Both teams exchanged a pair of made free-throws, and the Bobcats found themselves with the ball with six seconds remaining after a jump ball call gave the home team the possession. Pearson tried to pull one last heroic to win the game, but the ball did not cooperate as it hit the front of the rim and UTA walked off as the victors. 
 
 GAME NOTES
• Texas State shot 42.6 percent from the floor, 31.3 percent from the 3-point line, and 73.3 percent from the free-throw line. 
• In the first half, TXST shot 50.0 percent from both the field and behind-the-arc. Both teams were perfect from the free-throw line (TXST, 6-6; UTA, 4-4).
• UTA shot 43.6 percent from the floor, 35.3 percent from long distance, and 90.9 percent at the charity stripe overall.
• TXST was outrebounded 35-28 and are now 3-8 (2-4 in the Sun Belt) this season when outrebounded by its opponent.
• The Bobcats turned the Mavericks over 18 times, matching a season-high for the third time in a Sun Belt game this year (at Georgia Southern on Dec. 19, 2019; vs. Coastal Carolina on Jan. 9, 2020).
 • Both teams were tied in points in the paint (22) and points off of turnovers (15).
• UTA's bench outscored TXST 27-12. 
 
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
• Pearson has scored 20 or more points in 11 games this season, including seven times in the last eight games.
• Pearson now has 1,943 career points and moves to No. 12 on the Sun Belt Conference all-time scoring list, passing Ronnie Murphy from Jacksonville University (1983-87).
• Pearson moved to No. 3 on the program's all-time list in career steals and career made free-throws. After registering two steals vs. UTA, he now has 162 career steals, passing former Bobcats Donte Mathis (161). Pearson's fifth free-throw put him pass Travis Cornett (375) and he now has 378 made free-throws. 
• Pearson now ranks No. 10 by himself in career-rebounding with 675 boards  
• Small secured his second double-double of the season.
• Junior guard Marlin Davis had a game-high five assists, marking the fourth time this year he has had five or more assists in a game, and the 10th time he has led the team in assists this year. Davis also had five points and two rebounds vs. UTA.
• Sophomore Alonzo Sule logged a season-high two blocks.  
 
QUOTES
Head coach Danny Kaspar's intial thoughts on the loss and what was the biggest contributor…
"I really wish we could have won this game. It would have really put the punctuation mark on Nijal's [Pearson] accomplishments. I want to give credit to UTA. They guarded us pretty good. But the bottom line is that we did not rebound the ball very well and that hurt us."
 
Nijal Pearson on the team's moral after the loss vs. UT Arlington…
"The goal is to be at our peak in March. It is just January. Yeah, tonight was a heartbreaker. We wish we would have won and we are tired of losing to UTA of course, but it is a long season. There is a lot more teams to play. This is game 10 of 20 in the Sun Belt. But we do have to get better and keep grinding."
 
 
UP NEXT
Texas State continues its home stand next weekend with a 7 p.m. game on Thursday, Jan. 30 vs. ULM and a 4:30 p.m. game on Saturday, Feb. 1 vs. Louisiana at Strahan Arena.
 
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