Men’s basketball win streak reaches six games

Recent run propels Bobcats to second place in Sun Belt.

The winning streak for the Texas State men’s basketball team reached six games after the Bobcats held on late to beat Louisiana Monroe 55-52 at home Thursday night.

Junior guard Tre’Larenz Nottingham scored 16 points in the win. Nottingham, a junior college transfer in his first season at Texas State, has scored at least 14 points in the past three games since cracking the starting lineup to replace the injured Marlin Davis.

Sophomore guard Nijal Pearson led the team in scoring with 17 points. It was Pearson’s 13th consecutive game scoring in double figures this season. He’s leading the team with 14.3 points per game.

Junior forward Alex Peacock hit a buzzer-beater last Saturday to defeat Arkansas-Little Rock 72-70. After receiving an inbounds pass with 3.2 seconds remaining, Peacock hit a fadeaway from just inside the 3-point line as time expired.

It was the second time Peacock had hit the winning shot during the streak; he made a put-back layup with four seconds left in a one-point victory over Troy.

The streak has propelled the Bobcats (13-7, 6-1 Sun Belt) into second place in the conference, but their schedule will get tougher the next few games. While Texas State’s past six opponents have combined for just nine conference wins, their next three have won 14.

Next up for the Bobcats is Louisiana-Lafayette (153, 5-0), the current top seed in the Sun Belt. Tipoff is Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at Strahan Arena.

Antoine earns 100th win: The women’s basketball team (12-6, 5-2) bounced back from a loss with a runaway victory over Louisiana Monroe 86-52. It was the 100th career win at Texas State for coach Zenarae Antoine.

She became the fourth Texas State women’s coach to reach that mark, along with Suzanne Fox, Judy Rinker and Linda Sharp.

Senior guard Taeler Deer scored 36 points in the win over the Warhawks. She has scored 23 or more points in three of the past four games. Junior guard Toshua Leavitt added 19 points, making five of her 10 3-point attempts. Leavitt has made at least four 3-pointers in six straight games.

Texas State is third in the Sun Belt standings. The Bobcats will host one of two teams sitting just behind them Saturday: Louisiana-Lafayette (9-9, 4-2).

Conference honors in track: Three track and field athletes were named Sun Belt athletes of the week after the first two meets of the season: Courtney Johnson was the women’s field honoree, T’mond Johnson took the men’s field award and Devina Schneider received the women’s track accolade.

Thomas Pieters shot a second-round 65 to take a one-stroke lead as top-ranked Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy moved into contention.

Johnson followed up his ragged opening 72 with a bogey-free 8-under 64, tied for the low round of the tournament, and was four back.

McIlroy, playing his first event since October, finished with an eagle on the par-5 18th and was three shots behind Pieters after a 66. The former world No. 1 is coming off a winless 2017.

Jorge Campillo of Spain trailed Pieters by one shot after a 64.

Singapore Open: Chapchai Nirat birdied his first four holes and then his last two in a 7-under 64 to grab the clubhouse lead in the second round of the weather-interrupted tournament.

The Thai golfer jumped to the top of the leaderboard at 7-under 135 before the threat of lightning suspended play for the second day in a row with half of the 156-player field still to complete their second rounds.

Masters champion Sergio Garcia was at 8 under with 10 holes to play. The Spaniard was tied for second with Kurt Kitayama, who had 16 holes to play, and Shaun Norris, who beat the weather and signed for a 67.

Mitsubishi Electric Championship: