Defense Dominates

ABILENE, Texas – Sometimes it's not pretty and that was certainly the case Wednesday night as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi grinded out a 56-44 win on the road at Abilene Christian.
 
Rashawn Thomas led the Islanders with his 11th double-double of the season, fighting his way to 18 points despite facing double and triple teams all night long. On the glass, Thomas pulled down a game-high 11 boards to pull one shy of Michael Hicks' single-season record of 12 double-doubles.
 
With Thomas facing help all game, the Islanders were forced to turn to other options offensively and found clutch performances from Joseph Kilgore and Kareem South. Kilgore scored 13 and South 14 to provide 27 of the Islanders' 56 points on the evening.

"I think winning becomes a habit," said head coach Willis Wilson. "We've had our backs against the wall every night. We've been fortunate that we've been able to make plays. Backs against the wall, we've been able to get a deflection, we've been able to come up with 50/50 balls, we've been able to get rebounds and we've done a nice job challenging opposition shooters. I thought we did all of those things tonight especially down the stretch when we needed to extend the lead."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
After jumping out to an 8-2 lead, the Islanders went ice-cold. The Blue and Green went 7:17 without a point as ACU built a 13-10 lead. The Wildcats eventually extended their advantage to 19-12 with 6:37 to play.
 
That's when the Islanders flipped the switch. After a 4-for-15 start from the field, the Islanders hit 6-of-9 to finish the half. With the Blue and Green coming to life offensively, it simultaneously locked down on the defensive end holding ACU to 2-of-10 down the stretch.
 
The result was a 20-4 run for the Islanders over the final 6:37 of the first half, building a 32-23 advantage at the break.
 
ACU opened the second half by outscoring the Islanders 12-4 to close within one at 36-35, but the Blue and Green again had the answer. This time, the Islanders used a 12-2 run to rebuild the lead to 11 and the Wildcats never came within seven again.
 
DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE
 
The Islanders produced one of their best defensive efforts of the season, holding Abilene Christian to just 33-percent from the field at 17-of-51 on the night.
 
The Wildcats were limited to 23 points in the opening half before the Blue and Green clamped down and held ACU to just 21 in the second. The Islanders kept ACU in check beyond the arc as the Wildcats shot just 26-percent including an 0-for-7 second half.
 

HOME SATURDAY
 
The Islanders return to the American Bank Center for a 1:30 p.m. tip-off against McNeese on Saturday afternoon. Corpus Christi took the first meeting from McNeese by a 73-66 final in Lake Charles, La.