Texas State held on for a 67-60 win over Little Rock on Saturday at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock, Ark.
The Trojans cut the Bobcats’ lead to three points with 1:26 left to play but Texas State pulled away to secure its 21st win of the season.
The Bobcats (21-5, 10-3 Sun Belt) began the game on a 5-0 run with a quick layup from junior forward Eric Terry followed by a 3-pointer by junior guard Nijal Pearson.
But Little Rock (10-16, 5-8) answered with a 6-0 run of its own to take a 6-5 lead.
Both teams traded the lead early in the first half. The Trojans held their biggest advantage of the opening period at 15-11 after redshirt junior guard Rayjon Tucker completed an And-1 play.
Texas State evened the score at 15 with back-to-back layups from Terry.
The half came to a deadstop for nearly three minutes after neither team was able to score. But Bobcat sophomore guard Shelby Adams ended the scoring drought with a 3-pointer.
While the Bobcat offense found its stroke, the Trojans remained cold. Little Rock failed to score in over five minutes late in the half. Texas State took advantage by building a 26-15 lead. Senior guard Tre Nottingham helped fuel the Bobcat run with two 3-pointers.
Tucker ended the Trojans’ drought with a layup to cut the deficit to 26-17. The two teams traded buckets to end the opening half.
Texas State took a 36-26 lead into halftime.
The Bobcats saw their advantage balloon to 12 points after an early second-half layup from Pearson. Texas State held a comfortable lead for the first four minutes of the second frame. But Little Rock began trimming the deficit.
A 3-pointer from Tucker got the Trojans to within four points with just over 10 minutes left in regulation. The Bobcats, however, pushed their lead back out to nine after a slam dunk from senior forward Alex Peacock with 6:54 remaining in the half.
Tucker knocked down a 3-pointer to cut Texas State’s lead to 63-60 late in the game. But the Bobcats were able to close on the charity stripe with two free throws from freshman guard Mason Harrell and two shots from Pearson.
Texas State remains in sole possession of first place in the conference after Saturday’s 67-60 win.
Pearson led the Bobcats with a game-high 23 points. Terry tallied 12 points and Nottingham recorded 11 points and six rebounds.
Tucker paced the Trojans with 20 points and six rebounds. Freshman forward Nikola Maric added 17 points and six rebounds.
Texas State returns to San Marcos for its final homestand of the season. The Bobcats take on Louisiana-Monroe on Thursday at 7 p.m. and Louisiana on Feb. 23 at 4 p.m. inside Strahan Arena.
