Box Score 
ABILENE – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team went on a 26-6 run to open the second half en route to a 67-44 win over Abilene Christian on Tuesday night at Moody Coliseum. The Islanders forced 14 turnovers and limited the Wildcats to just three offensive rebounds in the victory to improve to 15-12 overall and 10-5 in Southland Conference play.
Ehab Amin led a balanced offensive attack with 16 points, while Rashawn Thomas added 14 points and seven boards and Bryce Douvier posted 11 points and nine boards. Harrison Hawkins led the Wildcats with 11 points in a losing effort. The Islanders shot 35 free throws and dominated the boards, 37-23.
At the outset, both teams came out ice cold from the field, with only two Thomas layups and a LaDarrien Williams jumper being scored in the first 6:30 of the game for a 4-2 Islanders lead. ACU scored the next three points to take a 5-4 edge before Thomas struck again with a deuce to put the visitors ahead once more.
At that juncture, Amin took over on the offensive end. The freshman scored the next 11 points for the Islanders, including a pair of triples and a three-point play, while ACU scored just four to give the visitors a 17-10 advantage. But Hawkins came on strong on the other side, hitting a pair of threes and adding a jumper for an 8-0 run on his own to put the Wildcats ahead 18-17.
Amin snapped that rally with a layup at the other end, and a Dale Francis free throw put the lead at 20-18. But Parker Wentz followed that with a four-point play, and the Wildcats took a 22-20 advantage. Jelani Currie drew the Islanders even with an offensive board and a pair of free throws, and then John Jordan got a steal and dunk to put the visitors up 24-22. The teams traded points over the next couple possessions, and Currie finished off the first-half scoring with a layup on a putback that made it 28-24 Islanders at the break.
Out of the locker room, the Islanders came alive on both ends, with back-to-back three-balls from Dale Francis and Douvier sparking a 10-0 run to start the stanza. After the teams traded baskets on the next couple possessions, A&M-Corpus Christi came up with seven straight points, including a Brandon Pye three and an Emmanuel Toney putback to push the rally to 19-4 and the lead to 47-28.
Austin Cooke snapped that rally with a layup, but the Islanders scored the next seven points, five at the free-throw line, to stretch the lead to a game-high 24. From there, the visitors were able to push the lead to as much as 26 in the closing minutes, with the final score sitting at 67-44.
The Islanders held the Wildcats to 2-for-8 shooting with three turnovers in their first 11 possessions of the stanza. Most importantly, A&M-Corpus Christi held the Wildcats to 5-for-15 from beyond the arc, and just 1-for-6 in the second half. ACU came in as the conference leaders in three-point field goal percentage.
The Islanders will be back in action on Saturday night for Homecoming when they take on Sam Houston State. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. at the American Bank Center and the game will be televised by Root Sports Southwest with Tom Franklin and Neal Raphael on the call. Tickets are available by calling 361-825-BALL (2255) or visiting GoIslanders.com.
