Texas State basketball split the week to even out their season record, defeating Prairie View A&M at home on Tuesday and falling to Baylor on Friday in Waco.
The Bobcats moved to 2-2 on the season and finished out the week by falling 72-63 in a close contest to 24th-ranked Baylor on Friday night at the Ferrell Center.
Despite falling behind 17-6 eight minutes into the game, the Bobcats fought back against the Bears to tie it up to 30-30 at the half. However, Baylor regained a big lead in the second half off a 16-0 run to go up 50-34 at the 13:12 mark. The Bobcats then fought back, responding with a 13-2 run to cut the lead to six at the 4:00 mark. After the back-and-forth effort, Baylor hit a three at the 3:27 mark to retake the lead by double-digits and prevent a last-minute Bobcat comeback.
Baylor dominated the stat board, going 16-of-24 from the line and shooting three times as many free throws as Texas State (5-of-7). The Bobcats shot 42.6 percent from the field to Baylor’s 41 percent. The Bobcats turned the ball over 18 times to Baylor’s 12 turnovers, and the Bears outscored Texas State in both the paint (32-22) and fast break points (24-10).
Senior guard Nijal Pearson paved the way for the ‘Cats with a game-high 20 points alongside six rebounds. In only his second game with Texas State, sophomore guard Caleb Asberry recorded 12 points on 5-of-8 from the floor, while junior guard Marlin Davis finished out the double-digit scorers with 11 points. Junior forward Isiah Small led both teams with 12 rebounds.
The win over Prairie View made history on two different fronts, with Head Coach Danny Kaspar earning his 100th victory at Texas State and Pearson rising to No. 4 on the program’s all-time scoring list.
“He (Pearson) wants the best for everybody,” Small said. “Even if you’re having a bad game, he’s still gonna be there to keep you going.”
The Bobcats dominated the board, shooting 52 percent from the field and holding the Panthers to 35%. The Bobcats also shot 47 percent from three (8 of 17).
Kaspar said he was pleased with both sides of the ball despite a few difficulties offensively.
“I consider this a very good victory for us,” Kaspar said. “We did struggle at the end offensively, so we have to do a better job and finish strong, but I was proud of our defense.”
Pearson once again led the way for the Bobcats with 23 points on an efficient 5-of-8 shooting. Junior guard Deshawn Davidson was also in double figures with 11 points. Sophomore point guard Mason Harrell recorded a game-high six assists, while Small took on the defensive front to pace the team with nine rebounds.
Davidson said that the team is starting to get more comfortable as they progress through the season.
“Coach Kaspar has done a great job preparing us,” Davidson said. “The adjustment has been kind of rough but I’m starting to feel better with each game.”
The ‘Cats’ next four matchups will be part of the Southwestern Showdown presented by Engage Telehealth, with three of the four taking place at Strahan Arena. After their Monday matchup against Jackson State, the Bobcats will travel to Las Vegas to play UNLV at 9 p.m. on Wednesday before returning to Strahan to finish the Showdown against Abilene Christian and Hartford the following week.
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