Mountaineers Take the Bobcats

By Parker Rhea
Sports Director

The Texas State Men’s Basketball team was defeated by Sun Belt Conference (SBC) opponent the Appalachian State Mountaineers 59-56 tonight at Strahan Coliseum. This isn’t the first time the Bobcats and Mountaineers have faced off, however Texas State was hoping for a better outcome than the last match where we lost in December.

Texas State came out in the first warm shooting (55.6 percent) from the field. However, Appalachian State also came out shooting decent range from the field. Both teams fought tooth and nail to try and keep a large lead between their opponent, but the first half ended with the score being (28-27) Texas State up. Throughout the season, the Bobcats have had a hard time getting the ball to the net comfortably which contributed to their fight to stay ahead through the night.

Coming into the second half there should have been intentions to improve three-point field goal percentages which guard Nijal Pearson could not hit this match-up, nevertheless Pearson stayed on strong defense guarding Appalachian State’s Ronshad Shabazz. The two have been known to go head to head with each other whenever both teams face off. Texas State’s Tyler Blount and Alex Peacock both come in clutch with three point field goals and free throws helping bring the Bobcats up.

Today’s loss brings Texas State to (14-11) overall and (7-5) in SBC play. The bobcats need to stay within the top four spots in rankings to have a chance at going to the Sun Belt Conference tournament. Next Saturday on the eighth, the Men’s Basketball team will travel to the University of Texas at Arlington to face off against the UTA Mavericks at 4:15 p.m.. That game will be live on ESPN3 and you can hear it right here on KTSW 89.9!

Featured image by Tino Manor.