Marauding Past the Mastodons

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – 3:09 into the game, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi found itself down 11-0 as Fort Wayne knocked down three of its first four three-point attempts. The Mastodons would hold the lead for the next eight minutes, but there was no stopping the wave as the Islanders surged their way to a 78-62 victory in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament quarterfinals.
 
Rashawn Thomas was dominant as ever. The senior put up another double-double, his 100th game in double figures as an Islander, with 26 points and a monstrous 16 rebounds. Thomas added a trio of assists, two steals and a block.
 
Along with Thomas, Ehab Amin torched the Mastodons to the tune of 21 points. Amin also snagged seven steals to match his career high. The seven thefts pull the junior one shy of tying the Southland Conference single-season record.
 
"Fort Wayne came out and slugged right away," said head coach Willis Wilson. "The thing was I felt like we were getting good shots and good looks. Typically, when you go through a drought like that to start a game, you tend to be a little outcome driven. We knew we were getting good looks and we were anxious to knock them down. We just had to take a little bit of a deep breath, settle down and get back into the process.
 
"I was extremely pleased and proud of our defensive effort," continued Wilson. "Our defense was really the difference in the game. We did play well offensively, we scored 78 points today, but the defense was significant with 90 deflections and nine kills."
 
Fort Wayne (20-13) threw a thunderous punch right out of the gate as the Mastodons raced to 11-0 lead. After missing their first eight shots, the Islanders (23-11) finally found the bottom of the net as Amin laid in an easy two four minutes in.
 
From that point, it was all Blue and Green as the Islanders outscored Fort Wayne 78-51 after the opening minutes. The Islanders bulldozed the Mastodons with a 24-2 run over an eight minute window to flip a 21-14 deficit into a 38-23 lead.
 
Over that eight-minute stretch, Corpus Christi held Fort Wayne without a field goal as the Mastodons went 0-for-4 and turned the ball over seven times. After trailing by 11, the Islanders went to the half with a 41-31 lead.
 
In the second, Corpus Christi opened with a 14-3 run to extend a 21-point lead. The Mastodons would never pull within single digits again as the Islanders cruised to the 78-62 victory, bringing a packed Dugan Wellness Center to its feet as time expired.
 
THE NUMBERS
 
>> After missing their first eight shots, the Islanders went 29-of-56 the rest of the way.
>> The Islanders held Fort Wayne to its second-lowest offensive output of the season at 62 points.
>> Four Islanders grabbed five or more rebounds.
 
 

SEMIFINAL BOUT
 
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will play in its first-ever CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament semifinal on Wednesday night at UMBC. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. Central Time.