Box Score DENVER – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team staged a furious comeback, cutting a 20-point deficit to six on two different occasions, but came up just short in an 83-73 loss to Denver on Wednesday at Magness Arena. Rashawn Thomas had his third double-double of the season with 18 points and 12 boards, while John Jordan scored 16 points in a losing effort.
Brandon Pye added 13 points for the Islanders (3-6) on 5-for-10 shooting, while Joe Kilgore had a strong second half to score a career-high eight points. Nate Engesser led the way for the Pioneers (5-5) with 24 points, as he went 7-for-9 from the field and 5-for-7 behind the arc. Cam Griffin added 21 points for Denver as well.
The Pioneers went 27-for-43 (.628) from the field and 8-for-13 (.615) from behind the arc in the contest. After an ice-cold first half, A&M-Corpus Christi shot 17-for-31 (.548) in the second half. The Islanders won the battle of the boards 30-25, and limited DU to just two offensive rebounds.
The teams came out of the gate going back-and-forth, with a Pye three cutting the lead to 8-7 at the 15:10 mark. But the Pioneers pushed the pace and used it to spark their offense, going on a 13-0 run to push the lead to 21-7. Brett Olson had five points and Duke Douglas added four in the rally for the Pioneers.
A nice drive to the basket by Jelani Currie snapped the rally, but from there, the teams traded baskets. But Denver's continued hot shooting from distance allowed them to slowly balloon their lead. A Jake Pemberton layup in the final minute pushed the advantage to a game-high 20 before Thomas' basket cut it to 36-18 heading to the break.
The Pioneers went 13-for-20 (.650) overall from the field and 5-for-6 (.833) from beyond the arc in the stanza. The Islanders, on the other hand, were just 7-for-22 (.318) and 1-for-6 (.167) from downtown.
Out of the break, the Islanders got a quick two, but Engesser came through again from distance to push the lead back to 19 at 39-20. From there, A&M-Corpus Christi began to mount a rally, slowly cutting into the lead. After two Jordan free throws, Pye went on a 7-2 run by himself, knocking down a three and two jumpers to cut the lead to 11, 40-29, at the 16:06 mark.
But Denver was able to get back in the positive column, with Engesser knocking down a three and Jalen Love following with a layup to push the lead back to 16. The teams traded points over the next several minutes, but the Islanders got it down to 11 once again after three straight free throws, two by Jordan and one by Pye. Griffin converted a three-point play and added a layup, though, to push the lead to 58-43 with 8:36 left.
A&M-Corpus Christi put forth another rally, using a 6-2 run to make it 60-49 with 5:51 left. Engesser then delivered a back-breaker, converting a three-point play to push the lead to 14 once more. Undaunted, the Islanders mounted another rally, sparked by the duo of Cole Martinez and Ehab Amin. Martinez converted a four-point play to start the run, then a steal-and-layup for Amin cut it to eight. Amin then grabbed a defensive board and pushed the pace to send Martinez in for a fast-break layup to make it a 63-57 game with 3:49 left.
The Islanders had a solid defensive possession after that, but Olson came up with a huge three pointer from the left corner to put the lead back to nine. The Islanders got two points back, but DU went on a 5-0 run to push the lead back to 12. Kilgore then came through with a triple and a three-point play to get it to six once more, but the Islanders couldn't get the steal they needed down the stretch, as the Pioneers emerged with the 10-point win.
The Islanders continue their road trip on Saturday, Dec. 20, when they take on Cal State Northridge. Game time is set for 7 p.m. PT/9 p.m. CT in the Matadome. Yannis Koutroupis will have the call on NewsRadio 1360 KTTX starting at 8:40 in Corpus Christi with the pregame show.
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