Despite trailing for most of the game, the Texas State Bobcats men’s basketball team (11-8, 4-4) defeated ULM 64-63 (6-11, 2-6) in a thriller that saw senior Nijal Pearson break the program’s all-time scoring record.
The ‘Cats have now broken even (4-4) in the Sun Belt after a slow start to conference play and are 11-8 on the season.
The Bobcats were led by Pearson, who scored 23 points on 7-of-15 from the field and surpassed Charles Sharp’s (1956-60) record of 1884 points to become Texas State’s all-time leading scorer.
Texas State scored the first points of the game but ULM came back, finding a rhythm to take a 33-25 lead at the half. The ‘Cats couldn’t retake the lead until 6:39 in the second half and went back and forth until a clutch three-pointer from Pearson tied the game 63-63 with a minute left. The Bobcats then came up with a steal on the following possession, allowing Pearson to step up once again and knock a free throw down to give Texas State the lead with 10 seconds remaining. Despite a last-second shot by ULM at the buzzer, a review decided that the ball wasn’t released in time and the ‘Cats took home the win.
Next up for the Bobcats is another road match against Louisiana on Sunday at 7 p.m.