Box Score CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Junior Rashawn Thomas scored 17 points and grabbed a career high 19 rebounds to lead the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team to a 47-39 victory over visiting Texas State Saturday night at the American Bank Center.
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Thomas, who came in leading the Islanders with 7.4 rebounds per game, recorded the second most boards ever by an Islander, just missing the all-time record of 21 recorded back in 2001 by Corey Lamkin. Ten of the forward's 19 boards were offensive, which is tied for the most in a single game in program history.
"For a guy to come away with 19 rebounds and we walk away with a seven-rebound edge on the glass is huge," Head Coach Willis Wilson said. "He went after every ball, like you're supposed to do. He went after them with two hands. He was just relentless."
The Islanders came into Saturday's game getting outrebounded by 1.3 boards per game, while the Bobcats were outrebounding their opponents by 8.8 per contest. A&M-Corpus Christi topped Texas State 42-35 on the glass in the victory.
"In the first half I was just working, because the last couple of games we've been bad at rebounding," Thomas said. "Coach has been preaching that to us in practice, so I really just tried to stay the course as much as I could."
DEFENSE DOMINATES AGAIN
• For the fifth straight game the Islanders held their opponent to less than 40 percent shooting, marking their fifth win in a row.
• Texas State shot just 21.4 percent from the floor for the game (9-of-42).
• A&M-Corpus Christi held the Bobcats to just 3-of-11 shooting from beyond the arc.
• The Islanders finished with eight rebounds and eight steals in the victory.
"Tonight was a defensive struggle and it wasn't because either team was trying to slow it down. The defense was very good on both sides of the basketball. Fortunately for us, we did a great job on the glass, we did a really nice job with our switches and with personnel."
- Willis Wilson
EXECUTION DOWN THE STRETCH ALLOWS ISLANDERS TO PULL AWAY
Similar to how the Islanders won on Wednesday, the Blue and Green were able to pull away in the second half by continuing to get stops, but also with key offensive execution. The Islanders used a 16-4 run over a four-minute span to increase their lead to 46-33 late in the game in essentially put it out of reach.
Senior Hameed Ali sparked the run with a three-pointer and then helped continue it as he picked up one of his four steals on the night and came down the other end to hit a runner in the lane. Sophomore Joe Kilgore then took over, knocking down a three and connecting on a floater of his own to put A&M-Corpus Christi ahead by 13, its largest lead of the contest.
ALI RECORDS MULTIPLE STEALS FOR SEVENTH TIME THIS SEASON
• Ali finished with seven points, five assists and four steals in the victory.
• The senior has recorded at least four assists in each of his last seven games.
• His four steals give him 25 on the young season and move him into fourth all-time in the program record books with 129 career takeaways.
• Ali came into this weekend ranked eighth in the nation with 3.0 steals per game.
WEEK OFF FROM GAME PLAY
The Islanders will not return to action until next Saturday when they play at UTSA. A&M-Corpus Christi takes on the Roadrunners at 2 p.m. Dec. 12 on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel.
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