SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State (8-8, 1-4 Sun Belt) fell at home 71-63 vs. Troy (6-10, 2-3 Sun Belt) on Monday night at Strahan Arena.

The turning point of the game was a massive 20-6 Trojan run that began at the end of the first half and bled into the second. After capturing a one-point 29-28 lead at the half thanks to a 3-pointer from junior guard Ty Gordon, Troy opened the final 20 minutes hot from long distance, shooting 5-of-6 to help build a 46-34 advantage which was the largest lead of the night. The Bobcats trimmed the lead to two points on two different occasions with less than five minutes remaining in the game. However, Troy ended the comeback attempt with a 10-4 run to secure the victory.

Pearson had a game-high 24 points (6-of-15), including three 3-point field goals, and was 9-of-12 at the stripe. He also registered five rebounds and one assist.  Senior forward Eric Terry had 10 points and a game-high seven rebounds while matching a career-high three assists.
 
Gordon paced the Trojans with 16 points and had five assists, a game-high three steals, and two rebounds. Junior guard Darian Adams finished with 15 points behind five 3-point field goals and a game-high six assists, while freshman guard Desmond Williams and sophomore forward Zay Williams logged 13 and 12 points, respectively.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
Troy led 7-4 at the first media timeout, but Texas State responded a 12-2 run highlighted by a 10-0 stretch to take a 16-9 lead with 10:47 on the clock. The Bobcats held another seven-point advantage at 21-14 with just under six and a half minutes remaining, but Troy continued to chip away and tied the game at 23 after a corner 3-pointer by Gordon. Moments later, Gordon knocked down another triple to give the visiting team a 29-28 lead which they took into halftime.
 
Second Half
The Trojans opened the half on fire from 3-point range by making four consecutive triples to match their first-half total by the 16:31 mark. They opened the half with a 17-4 run to grab ahold of the largest lead of the night at 46-34. Pearson sparked a 7-0 Bobcat run with a 3 of his own, making the score 46-41 with 11:42 on the clock and despite Troy building its lead back to eight points, sophomore guard Marlin Davis' triple followed by a baseline jumper from Pearson brought the Trojans' lead down to 56-54, leading to an overall 10-5 scoring run to erase the double-digit deficit to two points at 61-59 with 2:30 left to play. The Trojans ended the game, however, on a 10-4 burst to seal the game.
 
 GAME NOTES
• Texas State shot a season-low 32.8 percent from the floor (20-of-61) and had a .316 clip from behind-the-arc (6-of-19). They did shoot well at the line, however (.773, 17-of-22).
• For just the second time this year, the Bobcats allowed their opponent to shoot 50.0 percent or greater from the field (50.0, 26-of-52) with both instances coming over the last three games. Troy also shot 47.6 percent from 3-points range (10-of-21), marking themselves as the third opponent to shoot over 45.0 percent from distance and the fifth team to make 10 or more triples in a game this season vs. Texas State.
• Texas State edged Troy 35-34 in rebounds, including a 15-7 margin on the offensive glass that led to a 20-4 second-chance point-scoring difference.
• The Bobcats had less than 10 turnovers for the third time this season.
• Troy was 4-of-9 from 3-point range in the first half with three of them coming with less than five minutes remaining in the half and opened the second half 4-of-4 from deep.
• The Bobcats drop to 6-2 at home and are 1-4 in the last five games.
• The loss ends the Bobcats' two-game winning streak vs. Troy and was the first home loss head-to-head in the all-time series (5-1). Texas State leads the series 8-5.
 
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
• Pearson turned in his third consecutive game with 20 or more points. It was his seventh game with that type of scoring output this season, and the 24th of his career.
• Pearson is now No. 5 in the program's record book with 357 career made free-throws. His fifth of the game pushed him past former Bobcats Donte Mathis.
• Terry scored 10 or more points for the fifth time this season (22nd of his career) and led the team in rebounding for the second time this year (6th of his career).
• Along with Terry, Davis and sophomore guard Mason Harrell led the team with three assists. Davis also paced the team with two steals.
 
QUOTES
Head coach Danny Kaspar's initial thoughts…
"First, kudos to Troy. They shot the ball very well tonight. Like I told the guys in the locker room, I would not say that we did not play with a lot of energy, but I will say that Troy played with more. They outhustled us which is strange because we won the rebounding game, especially on the offensive glass. We did not shoot the ball well outside of free-throws, however, and overall, our guards did not have it tonight."
 
Senior guard Nijal Pearson on if Troy did anything different than expected …
"Troy did not do anything that was hard for us it was more of what we did not do. At the end of the day you either win or lose and that is determined by how you execute and make plays. We did not do that tonight."
 
Junior guard Marlin Davis on the difference between the first half and second half…
"I do not think we were not aggressive in the first half. I just think we had some miscues defensively right out of the gate in the second half that through us off and them hitting four or five threes in a row is what really set us back."
 
UP NEXT
Texas State will challenge Coastal Carolina at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 9 at Strahan Arena.
 
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