SAN MARCOS, Texas – Tre Nottingham scored 24 points, and Texas State shot 50 percent in the first half to score a 73-70 men's basketball win over Georgia Southern in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both schools Thursday night in Strahan Arena.
Eagles of the Game
Simeon Carter collected a career high 20 points and added nine rebounds, and
Isaiah Crawley notched 16 points and five boards in just 21 minutes of action.
Tookie Brown posted 13 points, six assists and six rebounds to go over 400 caroms for his career.
Quan Jackson added 13 points, six boards and two steals.
Key moments
Trailing 68-54 late in the contest, Georgia Southern (8-6, 0-1) used a 16-5 run to cut the margin to 73-70 on a Carter jump hook with 21.2 seconds left. The Eagles were forced to foul and got two misses from the charity stripe from the Bobcats(12-2, 1-0). Thanks to two offensive rebounds by Carter, GS had three tries at game-tying 3-pointers, but
Calvin Wishart, Jackson and Brown coming up empty.
Alex Peacock hit a triple from the wing as Texas State went on a 9-2 run, and a fast-break layup by Shelby Adams opened a 41-32 cushion with 1:41 left in the first half. Crawley made a layup at the buzzer for the Eagles, and the Bobcats led 43-37 at the break.
A dunk by Carter off a Brown assist cut the margin to 60-54 midway through the second stanza, forcing the Bobcats to call timeout. Texas State answered with consecutive triples by Nottingham out of the stoppage, and a pull-up jumper by Nijal Pearson opened a 68-54 cushion, the Bobcats largest of the game, with 8:24 remaining.
The Eagles were without starters
Ike Smith and
Montae Glenn, who sat out the game with injuries, and Crawley fouled out with 8:51 left in the contest.
Stats of the Game
After making 24 3-pointers in its last two contests, the Eagles went 3 of 19 from behind the arc for the game and missed three in the last possession of the contest.
Next up
The Eagles wrap up the first weekend of conference play at UTA Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
