Story Headlines
- The Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi men's basketball team fell to Louisiana Tech, 73-68, on Saturday afternoon at the Thomas Assembly Center in Ruston, La.
- The Islanders fall to 5-7 overall with the loss while the Bulldogs improved to 10-3 with the win.
- Saturday was the first meeting between the two programs since the University was adopted into the Texas A&M System.
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Elijah Schmidt scored a career-high 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting. He also grabbed six rebounds, had a steal and recorded an assist in 34 minutes.
Key Islander Statistics
- For the eighth time this year, the Islanders outrebounded their opponent, holding a 42-35 advantage on the boards over the Bulldogs.
- Texas A&M-Corpus Christi shot 40.7 percent (24-for-59) from the floor and tied a season-best by hitting 80 percent (12-of-15) from the charity stripe.
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Tre Gray hit a season-high four three pointers and finished with 13 points, two rebounds and an assist in 12 minutes.
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Jake Babic set a personal high with three blocked shots and tied a career-high with three made three-pointers, finishing with 11 points, five rebounds and three assists.
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Myles Smith had nine points, going a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe. He grabbed six rebounds and had a team-high five assists.
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Kareem South grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and finished with six points, and two assists. He tied a career-high with four steals.
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Tony Lewis came off the bench to score six points and grab two rebounds. He blocked two shots and also picked up an assist while going 2-for-2 from the free throw line.
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Irshaad Hunte grabbed six rebounds and scored four points to go along with an assist.
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Kyle Brown had three assists in 13 minutes of action.
Key Islanders Sequence
- Trailing 66-52 with 3:37 to play, the Islanders rallied to pull back to within four, outscoring the Bulldogs 14-4 over a two and a half minute stretch. Babic started the run with a three pointer and after a defensive stop, Gray knocked down a three pointer while getting fouled. Gray would convert the free throw to make it 66-59. After a pair of La Tech free throws, Schmidt threw down a dunk coming across the lane and on the next possession, Gray nailed another three to make it 68-64 with 1:43 to play. A Bulldog layup pushed the lead back to 70-64 but Smith made an acrobatic layup on the next trip down to make it 70-66.
Notables
- The Islanders outscored the Bulldogs, 22-16, in the paint, marking the eight time this season the team has led its opponent down low.
- A&M-Corpus Christi also outscored the La. Tech bench, 26-12.
- The five-point margin of victory was the closest any opponent has gotten to Louisiana Tech on its home floor this season where the Bulldogs are 7-0. The next closest margin was seven points by Sam Houston State and Houston Baptist.
- For Schmidt, it marked his sixth career game in double figures. It was Grays seventh game scoring in double figures and Babic's second.
- Saturday marked
Kareem South's 70th straight start. It was also the fourth time this year that he has led the team in rebounding.
- La Tech was held to over 8.0 points less than their scoring average this year and shot just 37 percent from the field, down from the 48 percent the team was averaging entering Saturday's game.
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Up Next
- A&M-Corpus Christi will close out the 2018 calendar year with a trip to Oklahoma State on Saturday, Dec. 29, at 1 p.m. The final non-conference game of the season will be broadcasted live on Fox Sports Oklahoma from Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla. You can also listen to the game live on
KEYS 1440 AM.
Stay Social
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For all the latest on Islanders Men's Basketball, be sure to follow the team on Twitter (@IslandersMBB), Instagram (@IslandersMBB) and like the team's official Facebook page (IslandersMBB).
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