Box Score
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Photo by Kyle Mazabob
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CORPUS CHRISTI – Rashawn Thomas' putback three-point play with five seconds left lifted the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team to a 55-53 victory over New Orleans on Monday at the American Bank Center. Thomas finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks in the win, which improved the Islanders to 9-4 in conference action.
Brandon Pye added 14 points in the game, and he had a strong look to serve as the Islanders' hero. His three from the left wing with 10 seconds remaining rimmed out, right to Thomas on the far side, and the sophomore put it back and got the foul. He calmly finished off the play at the foul line, giving the home squad a two-point lead with 5.0 seconds left. UNO's Christavious Gill raced down the court, but lost control and time expired as the Islanders escaped.
Gill had 13 points and Kevin Brown scored 12 for UNO (7-14, 3-9 Southland), which had a week off prior to Monday night's contest. The Privateers took 18 more shots than the Islanders, but A&M-Corpus Christi held the Privateers to 33.3 percent shooting from the field. Bryce Douvier finished with 10 points for the Islanders as well.
The Islanders came out strong on the offensive end, with Douvier scoring eight of the team's first 11 points to buoy the home squad to an 11-5 lead. The Privateers responded with the next three points to cut the lead back to 11-8, but the Islanders got a jumper from Pye and a three-pointer from Jordan to push the lead to 16-8. The teams then traded baskets to an 18-10 score.
The Privateers then came back with the next seven points, culminating with a Gill floater, to cut the deficit to just one. After two free throws from Jordan, the Privateers responded with two straight buckets to gain the lead, 21-20. The Islanders got a big answer from Pye, hitting a triple from the left wing, to put the lead back in the home team's hands, 23-21. But Gill came through once more, drilling a three with 55 seconds left and another with four seconds to play to send his team into the locker room up 27-23.
In all, it was a 17-5 run for the Privateers to end the half. Pye's three was the only Islanders field goal in the final 10:17, and A&M-Corpus Christi also committed seven turnovers in that span.
Out of the locker room, the two teams traded points, with the Islanders cutting the lead to 31-29 on a Pye jumper at the 17:19 mark. But the Privateers responded with a 6-1 run, as the home squad once again went cold from the field, to push the lead to 37-30.
But the Islanders came right back, with Thomas' blocks (all six swats came in the second half) leading to offense. Pye got the offense going with a jumper and Jelani Currie followed with a fast-break layup off a Thomas deflection. Ehab Amin followed with a baseline drive for two and then Thomas capped it off with a tough two inside to make it 38-37 in favor of the home team.
UNO then got a huge call in their favor, as a 50-50 block/charge call went for a basket and the foul for Kevin Brown to take a 40-38 lead. After an Islanders free throw, Brown put back his own miss to make it 42-39. Pye then tied it with a three from the left corner at the 8:56 mark.
Over the next several minutes, neither team was able to push their advantage to any more than two. The Islanders held the ball with 58 seconds left and up one, but an errant pass from the low block led to a breakout and Tevin Broyles finished off the layup to put UNO up 53-52 with 33.0 on the clock. That set up Thomas' heroics at the final buzzer.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will next travel to San Antonio on Saturday for a matchup against Incarnate Word. Tipoff is slated for 4 p.m. at the McDermott Center, with the women's game tipping off at 2 and the men's game immediately following. Yannis Koutroupis will have the call of the game on NewsRadio 1360 KKTX.
