STATESBORO, Ga. – Down by 11, Texas State chipped away and took the lead in the second half but Georgia Southern would come back and claim an 84-76 contest Thursday night at the Hanner Fieldhouse.
 
"Started out slow and giving up 56% shooting in the first half is a lack of effort and competitiveness. I thought we competed in spurts in the second half," said head coach Terrence Johnson. "Georgia Southern does a great job of moving the ball and for the most part in the second half we were solid defensively. But late in the game we had a number of breakdowns and they took advantage of those. We're shorthanded at the moment, so guys have to step up for us to respond on Saturday."
 
With the result, the Bobcats are now 11-17 overall and 4-11 in the Sun Belt Conference while the Eagles improved to 6-22 and 6-9 in league play.
 
Dylan Dawson paced TXST with 15 points behind three made three-pointers and a perfect 4-for-4 performance from the free throw line. Both Dontae Horne and Chris Nix came off the bench and scored 12 points apiece. Horne added four rebounds and two assists while Nix finished with five boards.
 
The trio of Coleton Benson, Davion Sykes and Christian Turner added seven points each. Jordan Mason dished out a game-high six assists and totaled two steals. Leading the squad with six rebounds was Joshua O'Garro.
 
Georgia Southern jumped out to an 11-5 advantage four minutes into the contest with all five points for the Bobcats coming courtesy of Dawson. A three-pointer by Benson and a layup from Brandon Love on consecutive possessions pulled TXST to within one.
 
After the Eagles stretched their lead back to six, Mason stole a pass and took it the other way for a slam dunk. Sykes followed with a layup to make it 16-14 in favor of the hosts with 12:04 left on the clock.
 
Seven straight points for GS extended their lead to nine. The largest lead of the game came for them at 32-21 with 4:27 remaining after the team's fourth trey of the half. The fifth made triple in the half closed out the opening stanza and gave the hosts a nine-point advantage at halftime.
 
Dawson, who left the first half with an injury, returned to the court and scored 10 of the Bobcats first 12 points in the second half. A four-point play by the senior guard started a 9-0 run that pulled them to within three. However, he reaggravated the injury that forced him out for the rest of the game.
 
Twice more TXST cut the deficit to three and then to two-point contest on a Nix layup. After an Eagle three-pointer, Dontae Horne made four consecutive free throws to pull TXST to within 60-59.
 
A converted old-fashion three-point play by Turner tied the game and on the ensuing possession he stole an in-bound pass and slammed it home to put Texas State in front for the first time on the night. Nix added a layup to extend the Bobcats' lead to 66-62 with 4:31 left in the game.
 
Georgia Southern would score nine consecutive points over a 1:25 span to retake the lead for good. Over the final 25 seconds, the Eagles went 6-for-6 at the charity stripe to prevent a Bobcat comeback.
 
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