Texas State (20-10, 13-6 Sun Belt) won their fifth game in a row Friday night at UT Arlington (13-17, 9-10 Sun Belt), defeating the Mavericks 85-83 in a triple-overtime thriller. The Bobcats had previously lost nine away games in a row versus UTA dating back to 2010.
With the win, Texas State remains game ahead of Georgia Southern and Southern Alabama for second place in the Sun Belt standings.
The Bobcats were led by senior guard Nijal Pearson and senior forward Eric Terry. Pearson continued his historic season with 24 points and an impressive 15 rebounds, while Terry continued his hot-streak, scoring 30 points and nine rebounds. Junior guard Marlin Davis had a near triple-double with 14 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists.
Texas State played solid team defense, holding UTA to just 33% from the field. On the other end, the ‘Cats shot 43% from the field, leading to a 27-25 lead going into the break.
Texas State struggled slightly in the second half, however, only shooting 35.3% from the field and 16.7% from three. As the Bobcats led by seven with 4:30 left in the half, UTA whittled down the lead and UTA’s sophomore guard David Azore tied the game with 26 seconds left to send the game into the first overtime.
The first overtime was tightly contested, with neither team going up by more than two points. Scoring was extremely hard to come by as each team only scored six points, ending the period 65-65.
The second overtime saw more scoring than the first with each team scoring 11 points. UTA stayed in the game with six made free-throws in the period. Texas State led for most of the period but lost the lead late to lead into the Bobcats’ first triple-overtime since 2009.
Terry and Pearson took over to secure the win in the final overtime. Pearson hit a quick three off the opening tip to start the period, while Terry scored the game-winning basket with a tough and-one under the basket.
Texas State’s last game of the regular season is against South Alabama on Tuesday, March 3 at 7 p.m.