SAN MARCOS, TEXAS– Georgia Southern men's basketball (7-6, 0-1 SBC) fell behind big in the first half and never recovered, falling in its Sun Belt opener to Texas State (8-4, 1-0) on Friday.

Trailing early on, a three and ensuing layup by Nakavieon White gave the Eagles a 10-8 lead - their only one of the night. Over the next several minutes, the Bobcats went on a 20-4 run to pull away.

A 3-for-3 charge at the end of the half featuring a Micah Smith three and the first dunk of Collin Kuhl's career at the buzzer cut the deficit to nine at the break.

Despite Bradley Douglas reaching 17 points and the first field goal of Braylhan Thomas' career, the Eagles couldn't make it any closer in the second half. The Bobcats led by as much as 23, pulling away 83-61 for the win.

Douglas had 17 to lead the way, reaching 500 career points at the Division I level, with White adding 12 and Eren Banks contributing nine. Kuhl had a strong defensive effort, grabbing a season and team-high six rebounds, also swatting a career-best three blocks, the first multi-block game of his career.

The Eagles shot just 20-65 (30.8 percent) in the loss.

GS will return after the holiday break to host ULM on Jan. 2.