Texas State suffers setback in loss to Georgia Southern

After a dominating performance over Georgia State on Thursday, Texas State had a letdown performance against Georgia Southern on Saturday. 

The Bobcats suffered their worst loss of the season in 74-58 fashion against the Eagles inside Hanner Fieldhouse in Statesboro, Ga. 

Texas State (17-4, 6-2 Sun Belt) received five straight points from junior guard Jaylen Shead to begin Saturday’s contest. 

But the Bobcats went cold afterward. Georgia Southern (13-8, 5-3) began attacking with a 15-2 run to go on top 15-7. 

Texas State answered with six straight points to cut the deficit to within two but that’s as close as the Bobcats would get in the first half. The Eagles pushed out their lead to eight points twice in the period. But Texas State only saw itself down 33-28 at the intermission. 

Shead began the second half with a fastbreak bucket to make it a one-possession game. 

Georgia Southern senior forward Montae Glenn, who missed the first game matchup against the Bobcats, began terrorizing Texas State inside. Glenn answered Shead’s bucket with a hook shot and made an And-1 free throw. He tallied two dunks on the Bobcats in the second half. He finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds. 

Texas State couldn’t quell Georgia Southern’s offensive output Saturday. The Eagles pushed their lead to double digits with just over 15 minutes left in regulation off Glenn’s first dunk of the second half. 

Senior guard Tre Nottingham tried to keep the Bobcats in the game by scoring 18 points in the second half, including four 3-pointers. 

The deficit, however, was too large to overcome and Texas State saw its five-game winning streak snapped.

Nottingham finished the game with a game-high 25 points. No other Bobcat finished in double-digit scoring. Junior guard Nijal Pearson — the Bobcats’ leading scorer — was limited to nine points and six rebounds. 

Alongside Glenn’s double-double, Georgia Southern received a balanced effort from senior guard Tookie Brown and freshman guard Elijah McCadden, who tallied 17 and 15 points, respectively. 

After grabbing a one-game lead over second place Georgia State on Thursday, the Bobcats are back in a tie with the Panthers in the Sun Belt standings following Saturday’s loss. 

Texas State will look to bounce back when it returns to San Marcos to take on UT Arlington (9-12, 5-3) on Saturday at 4 p.m. inside Strahan Arena.