LITTLE ROCK – A Texas State surge midway through the first half put Little Rock in a big deficit, one that proved to be too substantial to overcome by a late second half rally as the Trojans fell to the Bobcats 69-59 Thursday night at the Jack Stephens Center.
Facing a 19-point halftime deficit, Little Rock outscored Texas State 35-26 in the second half as three Trojans finished in double figures.
Myron Gardner notched a career-high 13 points with five rebounds, matched by 13 points from
CJ White, who made his first start of the season for Little Rock.
D.J. Smith added 10 points off the bench with a team-high four assists, playing 34 minutes.
Isaiah Palermo just missed reaching double figures as well, adding nine points, while
Kevin Osawe and
Jovan Stulic both contributed seven points to round out the scoring for the Trojans.
For the game, Little Rock shot 36.2% from the floor, making 40.0% from beyond the arc (8-of-20) and going 17-of-22 from the free throw line (77.3%). That was contrasted by a 47.2% shooting mark for Texas State on the night as the Bobcats knocked down 17 of their 18 free throws.
But where Texas State made its mark was on the boards, outrebounding Little Rock 42-20, including a 12-4 edge on the offensive glass. Texas State dominated inside, outscoring Little Rock 42-16 in the paint, while the Trojans forced 14 Bobcat turnovers, compared to just 10 of their own.
Playing its first game in two weeks, and once again shorthanded, Little Rock was able to hang with reigning Sun Belt champion Texas State through the opening 11 minutes. Facing an early six-point deficit at 11-5, the Trojans battled to within two at 19-17 behind a three from Gardner and a pair of free throws from Palermo.
But Little Rock's offensive attack went cold as the Trojans hit a nearly six-minute drought, leading to a 13-0 Texas State run as the Bobcats built a 15-point edge at 32-17 at the 4:39 mark. Texas State would push its lead to as many as 22, using a 7-0 run over the final 1:23, before a three pointer from Smith as time expired trimmed the halftime deficit to 43-24.
The Trojans shot just 33.3% over the opening 20 minutes, being outrebounded 24-9, including a 9-2 disadvantage on the offensive glass. Gardner led the way with 10 points in the first half on 4-of-7 shooting with three boards.
Texas State kept Little Rock at bay through the opening 13 minutes of the second half, leading by as many as 19 at 56-37 with 11:37 remaining. Trailing 60-42 with 8:12 remaining, Little Rock tried to chip away at the Bobcat lead, using threes on three-straight possessions from Osawe and White to get the Trojans within 10 at 61-51 with 5:53 to go.
Little Rock's guard-oriented scheme continued to chip away, getting to within eight at 65-57 at the 2:36 mark behind jumpers from both White and Stulic. But the Trojans couldn't make the key defensive stops down the stretch, falling to the Bobcats 69-59.
Texas State had four players finish in double figures, led by 19 from Caleb Asberry and 12 from Nighael Ceaser. The Trojans were playing without two of their top-three leading scorers as
Nikola Maric (15.6 ppg) and
Marko Lukic (11.4) were sidelined with injuries.
Little Rock will look to recover Saturday afternoon when the Trojans host UT Arlington, which is coming off a 75-70 loss to Arkansas State in Jonesboro Thursday night. Opening tip against the Mavericks is set for 2 p.m.
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