Box Score 
CORPUS CHRISTI – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team got a combined 43 points from its top two players in a 71-61 victory over McNeese State on Saturday night at the Dugan Wellness Center. Rashawn Thomas had 21 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, while John Jordan posted 22 points and eight assists for the Islanders (7-7, 2-0).
McNeese State saw two players post double-doubles, as Desharick Guidry (20 points, 14 rebounds) and Kevin Hardy (14 points, 11 rebounds) each turned the trick. Keelan Garrett added 13 points for the Cowboys (6-8, 0-3). A&M-Corpus Christi shot 14-for-23 (.609) from the field in the second half.
Early on, the two squads both came out slow on the offensive end, and a Shaun Johnson three pointer gave the Cowboys a 5-4 lead. A&M-Corpus Christi came back to score the next six points, though, with four points coming from Thomas. But McNeese came right back, posting the next five points, to knot the game at 10-10. The two teams traded points to a 13-12 Cowboys lead.
A&M-Corpus Christi then tilted the scales back in their favor with eight consecutive points. Cole Martinez drilled a big three during the rally, and Viktor Juricek added a nice tip-in as well. The visitors came right back once more, though, with a three-point play from Guidry capping off a 7-0 run that knotted the game at 20 aside.
The Islanders scored six of the next eight points, including a Thomas three-point play with two seconds remaining that put the home team up 26-22. But Johnson came up big, hoisting a shot from midcourt just before the buzzer and cutting it to a one-point game at the half.
Out of the break, Guidry put the visitors ahead 27-26 with a layup, but Thomas one-upped his rival with a three-point play at the other end, giving them a 29-27 lead at the 19:24 mark. The game remained a very close-knit affair for the next 10 minutes, though the Islanders would not trail again in the game.
After a Hardy tip-in made it a 46-42 ballgame in favor of the home team, the Islanders embarked on an 8-1 run, with Jordan scoring six points and Thomas two during the rally. Hardy came back with consecutive buckets to get the lead down to 54-47, but the Islanders ran off the next six points – four by Thomas and two by Brandon Pye – to put the lead at 60-47 with 3:23 to play. McNeese State would get no closer than eight the rest of the game, and the Islanders closed out the game at the free-throw line.
A&M-Corpus Christi will get right back on the hardwood, as they take on Lamar on Monday night at the American Bank Center. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m. on Stripes Court, and Yannis Koutroupis will have the call of the game on NewsRadio 1360 KKTX.
