SAN MARCOS, Texas – It was a record setting day in Strahan Arena for the Texas State men's basketball team (8-4, 1-0 Sun Belt) with an 83-61 victory over Georgia Southern (7-6, 0-1 Sun Belt) Saturday afternoon. The margin of the victory was the Bobcats' largest in a conference opener in the program's Division I era.

The conference opening win is the largest since defeating McMurry by 27 (91-64) on Jan. 7, 1967. Overall, Saturday's victory is by the seventh largest margin in team history in a league opening contest.

Leading the way offensively for TXST was Tylan Pope with 23 points, 16 of which came in the second half. He was 7-for-8 from the field with one made three-pointer and went 8-for-10 at the free throw line. The Franklinton, Louisiana native also grabbed five rebounds and set a career-high of five blocks.

Tyrel Morgan recorded his second double-double of the season as he finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds. He connected on 7-of-13 shot attempts with two made treys while also dishing out three assists and blocking two shots.

Flirting with a triple-double was Kaden Gumbs. The sophomore scored 12 points, grabbed eight rebounds and handed out eight assists to match his career best.

As a team, the Bobcats were 30-for-56 (53.6%) shooting the ball and went 6-for-14 (42.9%) from beyond the arc. They also converted 17-of-20 (85.0%) of their fee throw attempts. TXST outrebounded the Eagles 47-28 and outscored the visitors 38-20 in the paint.

Georgia Southern took its lone lead of the game at 10-8 following five straight points from Nakavieon White. Morgan knocked down a three-pointer to start a 17-0 run for Texas State over the next 4:17 to take the lead for good. Capping off the scoring run was a triple from Coleton Benson, the first of two he would make in the contest.

After two free throws by Bessanty Saragba with 2:01 left in the first half to increase the advantage to 42-27, the Eagles scored the final six points of the period to make it a single-digit contest at halftime.

The Bobcats scored 16 of the first 21 points of the second half to take a 20-point lead after three-pointers by Benson and Gumbs. Texas State's largest lead of the game was 23, which happened three times. The last came with 2:14 left on the clock after Joshua O'Garro converted two free throws.

Next up for TXST is its final non-conference home game of the season when the team hosts in-state rival UT Arlington on Dec. 29. Tipoff for the game is scheduled for 4 p.m.

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