Box Score NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team came into Monday night's contest against New Orleans ranked second in the nation with 9.9 steals per game. With Grand Theft Basketball in full effect at Lakefront Arena, the Islanders topped that mark with 14 steals and scored 28 points off of turnovers to earn a 65-57 road victory over the Privateers.
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"My initial thought is joy. My second thought is relief," Head Coach Willis Wilson said after the tightly contested game. "They're a scrappy team. They've always given us fits, and quite frankly, they played a different game plan tonight. They went big the whole night so we had to make some adjustments along the way."
The Privateers' big lineup allowed them to outrebound the Islanders by a margin of 43 to 26, which included 14 offensive boards. A&M-Corpus Christi countered that advantage with the aforementioned defensive pressure.
The Islanders forced UNO into 22 turnovers on the night and held a 28 to 9 advantage in points off of turnovers. Five players recorded multiple steals in the game, including senior Hameed Ali, who finished with four.
Ali came in ranked third in the nation with 2.8 steals per game, but it was his offensive output that helped lead the Islanders to victory on Monday. He led the way with 18 points on 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, dealt out four assists and controlled the team from the point guard position.
"I thought Hameed did as good of a job as we've seen from him all year of running our club," Wilson said.
With the Privateers determined to take leading scorer Rashawn Thomas out of the game, a number of Islanders stepped up off the bench. As has been the case a number of times this season, one of those players was sophomore Ehab Amin.
Amin scored 15 points, on 7-of-14 shooting, and grabbed six rebounds in 25 minutes off the pine. It marked the guard's sixth double figures scoring game of the season.
"I was really happy with some of the guys that stepped up," Wilson said. "Jelani Currie did a nice job in spite of his foul trouble. Viktor Juricek, Ehab Amin, Joe Kilgore, all did a nice job."
Kilgore scored nine points, grabbed five rebounds, blocked one shot and picked up two steals. Currie and Juricek, who saw increased minutes with Dale Francis sidelined due to injury, were critical on the defensive end all night. The Islander bench outscored the Privateer bench 24-11.
The Islanders shot 39.7 percent from the field and 41.2 percent from three-point range. The Blue and Green went 12-of-15 from the free throw line and only turned the ball over nine times in the game.
UP NEXT
The Islanders will return home and have four days off before returning to action Saturday against Incarnate Word. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Dugan Wellness Center on campus.
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