It had been a while since Nijal Pearson ran point guard.
Pearson played at the one spot his senior year in high school at Beaumont Central. When Texas State’s starter, Marlin Davis, suffered a season-ending knee injury on Jan. 6, 2018, Pearson served as the team’s backup point man for the remainder of the season.
Pearson’s almost exclusively played at the wing spots since then. But when the Bobcats (17-10, 10-6 Sun Belt) needed him to slide back to the position in a pinch in Saturday’s 69-64 home win over Arkansas State (15-12, 7-9), the senior didn’t miss a beat.
“I mean, it's just basketball,” Pearson said. “Positions are overrated.”
The maroon and gold lost their regular starting point guard, junior Mason Harrell, after the first half of Thursday’s game against Little Rock to an undisclosed injury. Davis, who redshirted his junior year last season to rehab his knee, was added to the first unit for Saturday’s contest. Head coach Danny Kaspar prepped Pearson at Friday’s practice, knowing he would need the guard to run the offense at times.
Texas State opened the first half on an 11-2 run. The hosts held the Red Wolves to 5-26 shooting in the period, extending the lead to 31-13 by halftime.
“We just played good (defense). That's all we did, we just played good D, played inspired basketball,” Kaspar said. “You know, we played with a lot more energy and intensity and that's the human mind. Plus, you're dealing with 18-22 year olds. They're great kids but they can get in a little bit of — what's the word — relaxed-mode at halftime.”
Davis earned his fourth foul of the game with 9:12 left in the second half, leading to Pearson playing extended minutes at point guard. It didn’t deter Pearson. The senior committed just one turnover on the day while handing out three assists and scoring 27 points.
Davis returned with 3:45 remaining on the clock. The Bobcats lead by 11 points with 1:20 to go. The went on an 11-2 run to make it a three-point game with 14 seconds left but couldn’t complete the comeback as Texas State took the 69-64 victory.
“We're getting there. We're not there yet, when we put together a full 40-minute game,” Pearson said. “But the fact that I left (last Friday) due to my child birth, I feel like it kind of threw us for a little bump. But you know, we're gonna get back to where we need to be.”
Pearson’s 27 paced the team, followed by senior center Eric Terry with 10. Junior forward Isiah Small added eight rebounds.
The Bobcats will play in their final home series this weekend, taking on Georgia Southern (16-11, 10-6) on Thursday at 7 p.m. and Georgia State (18-9, 11-5) on Saturday at 4 p.m. inside Strahan Arena.
“I feel like we put ourself in a good position to play good basketball,” Terry said. And we control our own destiny, so that's something that is good for us and that's a very big opportunity for us to make a statement in Sun Belt.”
