Islanders finish road swing in Huntsville

HUNTSVILLE, Texas. - The Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi men's basketball team will head to Huntsville, Texas, to take on Sam Houston State University on Wednesday, Jan. 16 at 6:30 p.m. Fans can also listen to the audio broadcast live on KEYS 1440 AM or watch the webstream on ESPN3.

Islanders at Sam Houston State (8-8, 3-0)
Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2019  -  6:30 p.m.
Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum - Huntsville, Texas
29th Meeting (Islanders trail 9-19)  |  Game Notes
Radio: KEYS 1440 AM
Webstream: ESPN3
Live Stats: HERE

HISTORY WITH SAM HOUSTON STATE (ISLANDERS TRAIL 9-19)
- This will be the 29th meeting between in a series that dates back to 2000.
- All time, the Islanders are 5-6 in Corpus Christi and 3-10 in games in Huntsville. The teams have met on a neutral floor four times with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi winning the most previous game in Katy, 79-76, back on March 11, 2016.
- The Islanders won three-straight meetings in the 2016 calendar year but have dropped the last three meetings, two coming in Huntsville.

LAST YEAR'S MEETINGS
- The Bearkats won both meetings last season.
- Joseph Kilgore scored 22 points and Elijah Schmidt had 10 pts and eight rebounds as the Islanders fell 82-50 at the ABC in Corpus Christi on Jan. 10, 2018.
- In the second matchup in Huntsville, Kilgore scored 28, Myles Smith added 12 and Kareem South scored 10 but the Bearkats scored six of the game's final eight points to hold on for a 66-64 victory back on Feb. 7, 2018.

BEARKAT (8-8, 3-0) NOTABLES
- Sam Houston stands as the lone undefeated team in Southland Conference play at 3-0.
- The Bearkats beat Abilene Christian and UIW at home and got a road win at Central Ark.
- During conference play, Cameron Delaney is averaging 15.3 points and 4.7 rebounds. He scored 25 points with five boards against UIW on Saturday.
- Kai Mitchell has scored in double figures in each of his last three games including a 19 point, eight rebound effort in the win over UIW.
- Josh Delaney scored 30 points to open the SLC season against Abilene Christian.

ISLANDERS LAST TIME OUT
- Texas A&M-Corpus Christi defeated Northwestern State, 62-61, last Wednesday evening at Prather Coliseum in Natchitoches, La.
- Kareem South finished with a game-high 19 points to go along with six rebounds and three steals.
- South knocked down a pair of free throws with six seconds left to give Texas A&M-Corpus Christi the victory. He was 5-for-6 at the charity stripe for the game.
- The Islanders outrebounded the Demons, 45-30, and held a 24-10 offensive rebound advantage.
- Emmanuel Toney scored 15 points, one off his career high on 6-of-9 shooting. He hit a pair of threes and grabbed two rebounds.
- Jashawn Talton finished with nine points and tied for the team-high with seven rebounds, including four on the offensive end. He had four assists and two blocks.
- Elijah Schmidt tied Talton for the team high with seven rebounds with four offensive boards. He had six points, a career-high five assists and three blocked shots.

SOUTHLAND PLAY ADJUSTMENTS
- During the first three game sof conference play, the Islanders have improved on multiple levels from their overall stats.
- The team's turnover margin in conference play is +2.7, up from the full season's +1.4.
- On the boards, A&M-Corpus Christi holds a +8.0 margin, up from the year's +5.2 mark.
- The Islanders are also averaging mor free throws made per game (15.3 - 11.8) and more steals (7.7 - 6.7).

SOUTH END OF GAME HEROICS
- After a tough first half against Northwestern State last Wednesday, South proved to be the hero in the second, scoring 14 points in the game's final 20 minutes.
- With two minutes to play, South knocked down a three pointer to tie the game, 58-58. Then just 46 seconds later after a defensive hold, South buried a jumper to give the Islanders a 60-58 lead.
- The Demons would convert a traditional three-point play to go up by one with 48 seconds left. South would take the next shot but it didn't fall. As Northwestern State tried to get the ball up the floor, an errant pass led to a turnover for the Islanders with 13 seconds to play.
- South drove left and drew a foul. He calmly knocked down both free throws to pull the Islanders ahead, 62-61, with six seconds.
- With only five team fouls, South wisely wrapped up the Northwestern State guard with two seconds in a non-shooting situation to force and out of bounds play and an errant shot that was blocked by Elijah Schmidt as time expired.

UP NEXT
- A&M-Corpus Christi will return home to face New Orleans on Saturday, Jan. 19, at 5 p.m. The game will be broadcasted live on ESPN3. There will be a live audio broadcast on the Islanders Digital Network, powered by AEP Texas. Tickets for the game can be purchased HERE.

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).