Box Score
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| Photo by Kyle Mazabob |
CORPUS CHRISTI – John Jordan scored 19 points to go along with eight rebounds and six assists to lead the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team to a 61-59 win over second-place Sam Houston State. It marked the Islanders' first win over the Bearkats since 2012.
The Islanders (16-12, 11-5 Southland) got 13 points and seven rebounds from Bryce Douvier and eight points and six rebounds from Rashawn Thomas in the win. The Islanders did strong damage off Bearkat miscues, scoring 24 points off turnovers, including 11 on the fast break. The home team played in front of a season-high crowd of 3,057 on Homecoming.
SHSU (22-6, 13-2) got 15 points from Paul Baxter and 14 from DeMarcus Gatlin in a losing effort. Michael Holyfield added eight points and grabbed 10 boards, but Thomas' offensive pressure forced both Holyfield and fellow big man Aurimas Majauskas into foul trouble. Both ended up fouling out of the game.
Both teams locked in defensively early on, and a back-and-forth battle saw four ties and three lead changes in the first seven minutes of action, with a tip-in by Kaheem Ransom resulting in a 10-10 score at the 13:06 mark. The Bearkats then went on to score the next five points, three on a jumper from Baxter at the 11:46 mark, to result in a 15-10 SHSU lead. The Bearkats stretched it to 18-12 after a Baxter layup at the 8:39 mark.
The Islanders rallied, though, as a Jelani Currie jumper sent them on a 5-0 run, capped off by a three-point play in traffic from Jordan that made it 18-17. After the Bearkats pushed the lead to 21-19, the home squad mounted its biggest run, scoring five straight points to take a 24-21 lead. The final play of that rally was the biggest of the half, as Emmanuel Toney got a steal, drove for a dunk, and was awarded two free throws for taking an elbow to the head. That put the home squad up three.
After the Bearkats got a two back from Baxter, Dale Francis drilled a three and Jordan went 1-for-2 at the line to push the lead to five. The teams traded points the rest of the way, with the Islanders taking a 30-27 lead into the break. Nineteen of the home team's points came off turnovers in the stanza.
SHSU rallied out of the break, though, scoring the first seven points of the half to take a 34-30 lead. But Thomas responded, scoring back-to-back layups inside to knot the score at 34-all with 14:07 left. Again, though, the Bearkats had an answer, with a Holyfield jumper and a Gatlin three pushing SHSU back ahead 39-34.
A&M-Corpus Christi then locked down on defense, and rode that to the tune of a 10-2 run to take a 44-41 lead. During the stretch, the Bearkats went 1-for-7 with a turnover, while the Islanders got six free throws, a jumper by Jordan and an alley-oop from Jordan to Joe Kilgore to take a three-point edge with 7:35 to go.
After the teams traded points, Baxter came through with a huge three from the right wing to tie the score at 46-all. Each team drained a free throw, then threes by Douvier and Brandon Pye sandwiched around two free throws from Gatlin pushed the Islanders back ahead by four, 53-49.
From there until the final buzzer, the Islanders held the lead, but it was never comfortable, with the edge fluctuating between one and three points. A&M-Corpus Christi had an answer for every SHSU shot, though, and Jordan and Ehab Amin closed out the game at the line for the Islanders.
The Islanders will return to the hardwood on Thursday, March 5, when they play host to Houston Baptist. The game will be part of a doubleheader with the women's program, with that game tipping off at 5 p.m. The men's game is slated to begin at 7:30. Yannis Koutroupis will have the call of the game live on NewsRadio 1360 KKTX.
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