Baylor Pulls Away Late

WACO, Texas – For 25 minutes, a young Texas A&M-Corpus Christi squad stood toe-to-toe with 24th-ranked Baylor, but the national power heated up down the stretch to put away the Islanders 70-46 Monday night in the Ferrell Center.
 
Joseph Kilgore scored 10 points to lead the Islanders in the loss. The senior guard added a career-high 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. Sophomore Elijah Schmidt added eight points and seven rebounds while Kareem South chipped in nine points.
 
"It was a great opportunity to find out a lot about our guys playing against a nationally-established program like Baylor," said head coach Willis Wilson. "For our kids to be able to come in and respond to not only a top 25 team, but a top 25 program gave us a chance to really learn about ourselves. We showed we're about a 25-minute ball club against a team of this caliber.
 
"We're young and a little bit naïve about some situations and haven't really connected the dots on how one play can affect the next series of events that happen over the course of a basketball game," continued Wilson. "I think our guys are smart enough to learn from the experience and get better with it."
 
The Islanders (1-1) showed tremendous growth as the youth-laden roster traded buckets with a Baylor squad fresh off a 107-point performance in its opener. For the first half, neither side could separate as the Islanders led for 5:43 before hitting the break facing a 28-22 deficit.
 
Corpus Christi came out in the second half with six-straight stops on the defensive end, trimming the deficit to just two. It was as close as the Blue and Green would come as Baylor slowly, but surely pulled away.
 
Three days after Baylor torched Central Arkansas to the tune of 107 points on 66-percent shooting from the floor, the Islanders iced the high-flying Bears to just 28 first-half points. In Baylor's opener, the Bears hit on 71-percent of their three point attempts, Monday night, the Islanders held Baylor to just 5-of-19 from beyond the arc.
 
In the second half, Baylor was able to flip the script as shots began falling for the Bears. After the Islanders pulled within two, Baylor went on a 12-2 run over the next three minutes to create separation.
 
The Islanders would cut the lead back to single digits, but Baylor had another run – this of the 14-2 variety to ice the game in the waning minutes. Manu Lecomte led Baylor with 23 points while Terry Maston finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
 
NUMBERS OF NOTE
 
>> Schmidt and freshman Sean Rhea put in work on the offensive glass, combining for 7 boards leading to nine second chance points. The Islanders outscored Baylor 9-7 off second chances..
>> The Islanders were hindered by a 24-4 differential in free throw attempts.
>> Baylor committed just eight turnovers on the night and held a 15-0 advantage in points off turnovers.
 
HEADED HOME
 
The Islanders face a short turnaround as they return home to Corpus Christi Athletic Club Court at the American Bank Center for the South Texas Showdown presented by NavyArmy Community Credit Union on Wednesday night.
 
Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. and tickets are available online or by calling (361) 825-BALL.